4th Crusnik
by Sasuke Zilverwing
Summary: Everyone believed that there were only three crusniks. But what if there was a fourth? One that everyone didn't know about? One that even Abel forgot about? What's he going to do when he finds her and swears to protect her from his brother. AbelxOOC
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

A silver haired priest yawned as he sat out in the garden reading a report his boss had given him only a half hour ago. He then removed his glasses and rubbed his tired sapphire blue eyes. He hadn't been getting much sleep ever since his sister decided to come and visit him in Rome.

_I wonder what Seth is doing right now? Probably enjoying herself as she and Sister Esther tour around Rome. _He thought as he stretched his long legs. _Wish i had such pleasantries. I'd take a tour of Rome anytime over reading these reports on my brother and his flunkies._

He tossed the thick folder on the table and stood up, putting his glasses back on. He was then suddenly tackled by said sibling, falling over onto the ground and having the wind knock out of him. "*cough* Seth. Must you tackle me?"

Seth just giggled. "Of course! It's not every day that i get to hang out with my best friend and older brother."

Abel groaned as he lay on the ground. He then groaned more as he heard Esther giggling. "This isn't funny Esther."

Esther just continued to giggled at how silly the two crusnik siblings looked. "Are you kidding? This is entirely funny."

_I just hope no one else sees this._ He thought as sighed.

"Well i see the empress is enjoying herself." Said Lady Caterina as she came into the garden, smirking at the two. "But what about you Abel?"

Abel whimpered into the ground. _Oh heavenly father. Why must you humiliate me so?_

Caterina just smiled as she watched Seth finally release he brother and Abel get up off the ground. Once he had dusted himself off, she spoke. "By the way Abel. I'm sending you and Sister Esther on a mission. You as well Seth."

"What kind of mission your grace?" Esther said as she went over to Abel and stood next to him.

"And why am I going too?" Seth asked as she looked at the cardinal confused.

"I've been getting reports in multiple places of vampire murders. And i mean vampires that have been killed not human victims." She said as she pulled out a folder from under her robes and handed it to Abel.

Abel opened the folder to reveal several pictures of vampires that had been murdered. Esther and Seth had to stand on there tip toes to see them.

"The murders have been happening everywhere. Albine, Barcelona, and even here in Rome. I'm even getting reports of these murders in Romania and Bulgaria." Caterina continued as the three looked through the pictures.

"Do you think this is Father Hughes work?" Esther asked as she took one picture out of the folder to look at it better.

"No. None of these pictures show that Sworddancer has been at work. First, it's not his style. And most importantly, these vampires weren't killed by a blade of any sort. It looks more like an arrow was used. At least that's what a report from Napoli suggests. But when they searched the area, they found no arrow. Another report from Mostar, Bosnia said that the detectives could smell something like burned o-zone in the air."

"Well that only happens if there's a lightning storm or if brother is in his crusnik mode." Seth said as she looked up at the cardinal.

"Exactly. But that's just it. It's summer, almost fall. So the only likely chance there is to all this is a crusnik with lightning abilities going after vampires." Caterina said as she looked up at Abel.

"Well it's not me. I'm not one to kill vampires like this." Abel said as he closed the folder. "And i don't think it's Cain either. He needs blood to survive and hold his body together but not like this. Who ever is doing this must have a reason."

Esther nodded as she took the folder and place the picture she had examined back into it. "Is there anything else?"

"Yes. Someone caught a glimpse of this person about a week ago, around the same time as the last reported murder." Caterina said as she took the folder from Esther. "They said that the murderer a female in her late 20s, 6'5", and with silver hair down to the middle of her back. Or so the witnessed thought."

"What do you mean?" Abel was getting confused as to what the cardinal was trying to get at.

"What i mean is, the the witness saw the girl's hair standing on end. Literally. Like your's does. And her eyes were blood red." She said as she looked at the priest sternly.

"Hair on end? With red eyes? And lightning powers?" Seth asked these questions all out loud. "It doesn't make sense. It almost sounds like these girl might be a crunsik."

"That's impossible. There are only three crusniks." Abel said as he looked at his sister. "There's only you, me, and Cain. There were no others besides us and...." He went silent as he thought of Lilith.

Seth looked sadly up at her brother. "I understand Abel."

Caterina sighed as she let the two think over this. After a few minutes, she spoke again. "As of late, I've been getting reports of a silver haired girl in Messina walking around. I want all three of you to go down there and see if she is the one we are looking for."

The three of them nodded.

"Don't harm her. And don't arrest her. Some of the people in the towns the murders have been in have actually been grateful for someone taking care of the vampires that threaten their lives."

"When do we leave?" Seth asked.

"Around 6 this evening. Everything has been payed for. Including the hotel room." Caterina said as she handed Able the envelope holding the train tickets and passports.

Abel nodded and tucked the envelope into his coat. "We should get ready then."

The girls nodded and followed him out of the garden.

Caterina sighed as she watched them go. "Let us hope that it isn't another threat like Cain."

* * *

Cain was sitting at a computer screen, sipping a glass of blood wine. He was smirking as he read over the reports of his latest project.

"My Lord." Came the voice of his accomplice, Dietrich. "I have news."

"Oh do you?" Cain said as he continued to looked at the screen. "What is it?"

"The Vatican has found our little mouse."

"Have they now? It's about time she's was spotted." Cain said as he sipped his wine again.

"Indeed. She has been spotted all over Europe, killing vampires, weather they are agents of ours or not." Dietrich said as he looked over the reports he had in his hands.

Cain went silent. "I see. Then we must recapture our little mouse now should we?" He said as he sipped his wine. "She would be a prize that the Vatican must want to have."

"I know. They sent your siblings and the queen of Alvion to Messina to find her." Dietrich said as he looked at the back of his lord's head.

"Hmm." Cain thought about this for a moment before he turned around in his chair to look at the puppet master. "Send out a spy to follow them. And when the moment is right, take her."

"And if she resists?" Dietrich asked as he smirked.

"By force if nessissary" Cain smirked as he twirled the glass in his hand.

Dietrich bowed to his lord and then left the room.

"I will have my little mouse returned to me." Cain said as he turned back to look at the screens again. "She is mine. And Abel better keep his hands off her."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It was nightfall by the time the three got to Messina and into the hotel. Abel flopped on the bed and sighed. "That was a long train ride."

"Oh what are you complaining about?" Esther said as she placed her bag by the second bed. "I found it rather enjoyable."

"Me too." Seth said as she just sat on the bed. "I've never been this far away from the empire before. But i'm sure the Duchess of Moldova is doing fine."

"I wonder why Lady Caterina asked for you to come Seth." Esther said as she removed her abbot and placed it on the night stand. She may be the Queen of Alvion but she still liked to have her freedom every now and then.

Seth shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe we'll find out during this trip."

They then heard Abel's stomach growling loudly. He groaned as he balled up on the bed.

"Abel? Did you go without eating again?" Esther asked as she glared at him.

"Umm well....If you mean to ask if i hadn't had anything to eat since this morning then....umm....yes." Abel replied as he looked sheepishly over at the girls.

Both of them sighed annoyed.

Esther then got up and walked over to the door. "I'll go get us some food. Seth, Make sure he doesn't try to eat out of the trash can or something."

Seth giggled and saluted. "Will do!"

Esther smiled and then left the room.

* * *

About half an hour later and getting some directions, Esther was walking back to the hotel with a bag full of food. She was nibbling on some of the bread as she looked around. _Sure is peaceful here. I wonder how long it will take us to find this mystery girl._ She thought as she stopped at the intersection that was close to the hotel.

"Excuse me." Esther looked behind her and almost choked on her bread.

Standing behind her was a girl about as tall as Abel, with silver hair that flowed over her shoulders. She was wearing a black trench coat, black pants, and knee length leather boots. Esther guessed that the girl was also wearing a black shirt as well. She also noticed a thin chain of gold glittering from under the collar of the coat. But when Esther looked at her eyes, she was amazed of how green they were. With the silver hair, the girl's eyes looked like the purest of emeralds. The queen was almost certain that this was the girl they were looking for.

Esther soon regained herself and swallowed the mouthful of bread in her mouth. "Yes? Can i help you?"

"Actually. I should be helping you." The girl said as she looked down at the queen. "It's not safe to be out on the streets alone at night. There are vampires here that could hunt you down and have you for dinner. If you know what i mean."

"Umm....thanks." _I guess it couldn't hurt to have her escort me back to the hotel. Considering that i left my gun in the room._ :"I'm staying in the hotel over there with some friends of mine."

The girl nodded. "Very well. I'll escort you to the doors. Once inside, the staff can watch over you."

Esther nodded and followed the girl to the hotel. "I'm Esther. Esther Blanchet."

"The Queen of Alvion?" The girl asked as she looked at her.

The queen laughed nervously. "Yep. That's me."

"What's a queen doing here in Messina? And dressed as a nun?"

"I'm here with a few friends of mine on a vacation." Esther lied. She didn't want this girl to know her real reason for being in southern Italy.

"I see." The girl was silent for a bit as they were almost to the hotel.

"Do you mind if i ask...what your name is?" Esther spoke carefully as she adjusted the bag in her arm.

The girl was silent for a bit and then sighed softly. "My name is Rose. And that's all i know. I never got to know my last name."

"Why not?" Esther was curious and was hoping she wasn't invading the girl's private memories.

But she was surprised when she saw Rose shrug. "I don't really know. From what i was told, i was an orphan taken in for some space project. But i was kept secret from the others that were there for the project. I kept being told that i was special. More special then the others. I can't even remember their names. Or maybe i never knew their names. I just don't know."

_Space project? Like Abel, Seth and Cain?_ Esther thought as she glanced up at the girl.

"We're here." Rose said suddenly as she stopped in front of the hotel.

"Oh! Umm....thank you." The queen said as she smiled at her.

Rose nodded and turned around to walk back to where they had come from. "See ya around Your Highness."

Esther nodded as she watched Rose walk away. She could now see how long Rose's hair was. It ended right in the middle of her back. _I wonder if she is the one we were looking for.

* * *

  
_

"Lilith never mentioned a fourth person in the space station." Seth said as the three of them ate the food Esther had bought. Esther had just finished telling Seth and Abel about Rose. "Then again, she didn't tell us much about anything."

"Indeed." Abel said as he swallowed a mouthful of food. "She just watched over us like a mother."

"And made sure you and Cain didn't clobber each other." Seth smirked as she took a ate of her bread.

Abel glared at the empress and then went back to eating.

"Do you think she's the one we are looking for then?" Esther asked as she sipped her tea.

"She very well could be." Abel said as he was about to eat more bread. "If she has my hair and Seth's eyes she might be another one of us. All three of us have angelic features which really makes us stand out from others."

Seth nodded. "We'll have to go out in the morning and find her. We need to make sure she is indeed the one we are looking for."

Abel and Esther nodded in agreement.

But what they didn't know was that they were being watched. For standing outside on the thin ledge was Rose. But if Esther saw her now, there would be a few differences.

The bangs of her silver hair were standing on end and her eyes were blood red. Her fangs showed going over her black bottom lip. Her nails were claws with one of them touching the glass window, feeling the sound vibrations of the three talking in the room.

She was in shock, staring down at the street below as her mind processed everything she just heard.

_They're looking for me? Could they possibly know who i am? And why i was created to kill vampires?_ She thought as she looked at the empty street.

She then leaded forward and started to fall off the ledge. But just before she completely slipped off the ledge, large black feathered wings erupted from her back. She flapped her wings as few times and gripped the window ledge to peek inside the room.

She gasped at what she saw. _The man and the other girl. They look so familiar. But they look older._

She then noticed Abel getting up and yawning. She put her claw on the window to see what he was about to say.

"We better get some rest if we are going to go out and search the city for....uhhhh....What was the girl's name again?" He asked as he looked at Esther.

"Rose."

"Oh yes Rose. That's it!" He said as he smiled like an idiot.

The girls sighed and shook their heads.

"There's just no hope for you Abel." Seth siad as she sighed.

_Abel? His name is Abel?_ Rose racked her memories and tried to picture Abel as a child. She remember that she was always spying on the others through a door. She even crawled around in the air vents and spied on them all. She then gasped as she remembered the twin boys. _I remember! The twin boys! One with blonde hair and one with silver hair. He must be the silver haired one. _She thought as she watched the man dig around in his suit case and pulled out his pajamas. _Abel. _She smiled as his name resonated in her mind.

She then released the ledge and flew off into the night. _Yes Abel. We will meet again. I want to know more about you and the other girl. And i want to know about my past.  
_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The next morning, the trio was out and searching for Rose. But that was proving to be difficult. They searched all morning and into the afternoon. That was when they had to stop searching because Abel's stomach wouldn't stop growling.

"How hard can it be to find one girl?" Abel moaned as he slumped on the table.

"Apparently, very hard." Seth said as she took a seat next to her brother.

Esther sighed as she next on the other side of the priest. "Messina is a large city. It could be days before we find her."

"Or a matter of just looking behind you." Came a voice that Esther recognized.

Abel and Seth gasped as they saw the girl Esther described last night, standing right there behind the queen.

"I take it you would be Rose?" Abel asked as he looked at her. He couldn't even stop himself from thinking of how beautiful she was.

Rose smiled and nodded. "I am. And you would be...Abel....right?"

"Yes." Abel could feel himself blushing.

"HI! I'm Seth. Abel's sister." Seth said as she smiled.

Rose laughed softly. "Hello Seth."

"We've been looking everywhere for you." Esther said as Rose took a seat at the table with them.

"I know. I've kinda been following you all day." She said as she smiled a bit. "It helps if you look behind you, you know?"

Abel chuckled. "So. Are you one of us too?"

Rose looked at him curiously. "What do you mean?"

Abel looked around, making sure it was safe for what he was about to do. He then closed his eyes and mumble the activation of the nano-machines to 10%. When he opened his eyes, instead of crystal blue, they were blood red.

Rose gasped as she stared at his eyes. She then leaned in close to whisper to him. "You can do that too?"

He nodded and then deactivated the nano-machines. "Yes. Seth can change as well. And so can our older brother, Cain. But you don't want to be around him."

"He's really a big pain in the neck. Evil to the core." Seth said as she sipped at her drink.

Rose leaned back in her chair as she thought things through.

"Is something wrong?" Esther asked when she noticed how quiet Rose was.

"It's just....i've been wondering for so long who i am. Why was i created to kill vampires? What's my purpose in life?" Rose asked as she stared at the table.

"Well. If it helps any. You are what is called a crusnik. A vampire that drinks that blood of other vampires and is able to walk around in full sun light." Abel said as he looked at her. "Also, being a crusnik means you have special abilities while in crusnik form."

"Powers?" Rose looked up at him a bit confused.

"Yes. Powers." Abel smiled. "I, myself, am able to conduct electricity and fire off lightning. Seth can basically turn people into salt using high-energy ultrasound waves or sonic flames. And Cain can released sonic blasts that can blow holes in a wall. Or at least something to that effect."

"I see." Rose mumbled as she reached under the collar of her coat and pulled out a gold chain necklace. On the end of the chain was a pendent with two pairs of wings, one white and one black, coming off the hilt of a long sword. There was another pendent under it that Abel could see as a silver celtic cross with a red stone in the center.

"Where did you get that cross?" Abel asked as he stared at it. _Where have i seen it before?_

"This?" Rose held up the cross so that the others could see. "I can barely remember. But, on the space station, there was this one woman that would always keep me company. She told me.....that i was unique, special, gifted. She would stroke my hair and sing me to sleep. She was the closest thing i had for a mother."

Seth and Abel looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. _Could she be talking about Lilith?_

"But i remember." Rose continued. "I remember years later she had to leave for something that had to be done on Earth. She gave me this cross....her cross....so that she could always be with me in spirit." She sighed as she looked at the cross. "But....something went wrong. She never came back. I escaped the station after the blonde one was sent to Earth to be destroyed. When i landed, i just started roaming the planet."

"And started killing vampires?" Seth added as she looked at Rose with a serious look.

"Well. It wasn't a frequent as it is now." She said as she smirked. "In the past, i just killed what i needed to survive. Which was usually once or twice a month. I just killed the vampires that would go unnoticed and that's all."

"So what brought up the murders all over Europe?" Esther asked as she sipped her tea.

Rose was silent for a while before she sighed softly. "I was in Romania at the time. That where it happened." She turned the winged sword around so she could look at it better. "I was with my best friend, Kenneth and we were just fooling around. I felt human around him and he knew about my.....ability. He was never scared. But then, they came. They took him away from me and they murdered him."

"Who are 'they'?" Abel asked innocently. He felt sorry for her that she had lost a dear friend like that.

"I believe they called themselves members of the Rosen Kreuz Order. But of the five that i killed for revenge, only one escaped. I forget what he looked like." She said as she rubbed her thumb over the pendent.

"Are you sure they said that they are from the Order?" Esther asked as she looked at Rose. She felt sorry that the girl had had so much happen to her.

"Believe me. The four vampires i killed that night yelled it pretty loudly. 'You cannot stop the reign of the Rosen Kreuz Order or the will of the Contra Mondi!' is what he yelled before i murdered him." She said as she played with the winged pendent.

Abel nodded. "You need to come with us Rose. For your own protection. The Rosen Kreuz and the Contra Mondi might be trying to come after you."

"But why?" Rose looked at the father confused.

"We don't know but it's better to be safe then sorry, right?" Esther asked as she smiled at the girl.

Rose looked at the queen and soon smiled herself. "i guess so."

"Great!" Seth cheered as she giggled happily.

Rose couldn't help but laugh herself.

Abel just smiled. He couldn't really understand it, but he was being intoxicated by her. _Oh heavenly father, what is going on with me?_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

It was two days since the trio found Rose. She said she had a few things to take care of in Messina before they left for the Vatican.

Rose was very happy to meet others like her. She even admitted that she felt alone in the world.

It was just her and Abel today. Esther and Seth were making arrangements to take Rose with them to Rome and getting some food for Abel so he doesn't starve himself again.

Abel found out that she had been staying in a church not too far from the hotel. It was practically down the street!

"This is where you've been staying?" Abel said as he gazed upon the Gothic style church named the Akutabi Cathedral

"Yeah. The priest here heard about the vampire killings and that i was the one that murders them and allowed me to stay here for however long i wanted." Rose said as she smiled at him. She went up the steps and opened the door.

"Amazing!" He gaped as he stared at the stained glass windows.

"Ah! Lady Rose!" A wise old priest exclaimed as he saw the girl came in and toward him.

"Hello Father Razul." She said as she smiled at him.

"And who would your friend be?" Razul asked as he looked at the clumsy priest spinning around to look at the cathedral.

Rose looked at Abel and laughed at how foolish he was. "That's Father Abel Nightroad. He's from the Vatican."

"The Vatican eh?" Razul couldn't help but chuckled as Abel tripped over his own feet and fell down. "Well. I can tell you are going to be in good care my dear."

Rose laughed and went over to help Abel up. "Abel. Stop embarrassing me."

Abel laughed nervously. "Sorry Rose."

Rose smiled and then lead the clumsy priest to where her room was.

There wasn't much in the room. There was a bed, a dresser, and a table and that was it. At the foot of the bed was a large duffel bag that seemed to be packed with her cloths.

"That's all you have?" Abel asked as Rose went to the dresser to take out even more cloths.

"Yeah. This is all i have. It's mostly cloths i took from the vampires that i killed that would go unnoticed. They all seemed to fit me too." She said as she packed some shirts into the bag. "I even took the money they had on them so i could buy this bag to keep the cloths in and buy food. It's not like they were going to use it since they were dead right?"

Abel smiled. "I guess not. But you shouldn't kill anymore. The Rosen Kreuz Order might come after you. And i think they killed your friend to get to you. Like they might be sending a warning. But i'm not truly certain that is what they kill your friend for."

Rose nodded and opened a drawer on the dresser and took out a large lock box. It looked big enough to hold Abel's gun from the looks out it.

"What's that?" Abel asked as Rose placed the box into the bag.

"It's a gun i bought a few weeks ago." She said as she zipped the bag closed. "I saved enough money to get it and special silver bullets too." She then sighed as she stared at her bag. "Abel.....What does Cain look like?"

"Why do you ask?" Abel asked as he went over to the bed and sat down on it.

"Because i keep having these dreams of this blonde man standing over me." She said as she sat next to him. "But, i can't hear what he's saying. It's all muffled and i can't see him clearly. It's like there's this glass wall between us. And there are these lights above me that are so bright that i can't see. I have no idea where i am either."

Abel stared at her, not sure of what to say about her dreams. "Well. Cain sort of looks like me. Only of course, he has blonde hair and not silver like mine. He does have the same eyes as me and always has his hair down. And he also wears robes of white and gold."

"White and gold....with a bit of red too?" She asked as she looked at him.

Abel thought for a moment and then nodded. "Oh yes! He has some red too. It's been a while since i last saw him." He said as he chuckled.

Rose smiled softly as she looked at him.

Abel found himself staring at her again. He soon realized what was going on with him. It was an emotion he hadn't felt in years. Not since Lilith had died. _Do i.....love Rose?_ It only took him seconds to realize his answer as he looked into her emerald eyes. _I do, don't I? I can't help but feel like this toward her. It's like she has me under a spell and i don't want to break it._

"Abel....." Rose said his name softly as she looked at him. Deep down, she was feeling the same toward him, but just didn't know how to tell him.

"Rose.....I....." He moved his hand closer, placing it gently on hers.

"Yes?" She then noticed that the distance between them seemed to be getting smaller very slowly. _Was he this close before?_

"I.....I think...."_JUST SAY IT YOU STUPID IDIOT PRIEST! _He yelled mentally to himself as he moved closer to her.

"Think what?" _Should i say something first?_ She was trembling slightly as she looked at him nervously and anixously.

"I....I think that...." _SAY IT! _"I think.....think that we should probably...." _JUST SAY IT ABEL! _"Go and find Esther and Seth!" _NO! STUPID ABEL! STUPID! _He was mentally kicking himself for not saying what he wanted.

"Oh." She looked a little disappointed but didn't show it. "Yeah i guess we should now huh?" _I thought for sure he was going to say something least.....awkward._ She thought as she got up from the bed and picked up her bag.

Abel was still kicking himself as he watched Rose bid farewell to Father Razul and then followed her out of the church. He sighed softly as he thought back to the moment in the bedroom. _Did we.....almost have a moment?

* * *

  
_

"It cannot be?!" Dietrich was staring at the charts and monitors he had on Cain's 'little mouse'. "Her heart rate accelerated! And her adrenaline levels spiked!"

He thought this over and could think of no other solution. "She's fallen for the brother. She is totally attracted to him!"

"Is she now?" Cain walked up to the puppet master from out of the shadows.

Dietrich gasped as he turned around and saw his master. "My lord!"

"Don't worry. I have a plan set in motion already." Cain said as he looked at his mouses levels. "I've sent the Magus after them. He is going to force my dear brother to show his absolute true self while trying to defend her. She will then be so scared that she won't feeling anything for him."

Dietrich looked at his lord curiously and then smirked. "Von Kampfer does seem to get under your brother's skin doesn't he?"

"Well...He did murder that nun friend of his in Barcelona with the Silent Noise project." He said as he smirked evilly.

Dietrich nodded. "This should be most interesting then."

* * *

The next day, the foursome were now boarding the train headed to Rome.

Rose was very excited to be going somewhere where she would truly feel safe. She was even promised to be made a member of the AX Forces.

They found an empty cabin to travel in and were now shoving Rose's bag into the luggage rack. There were two benches in the cabin and two fold down beds. One of the beds was being used as a secondary shelf for Seth's luggage and a place to store the food.

Once settled, Esther and Rose made a quick run to get some drinks for the trip and ran back to the train, having only minutes until the train left. They settled down in their cabin just as the train started moving.

"I can't believe i finally found someone like me." Rose said as she watched Messina pass by the window and out into the open fields of Italy.

"I can't believe there's a fourth Crusnik." Seth said happily and then hugged Rose.

Rose laughed and hugged the empress back.

Esther was smiling as she read a book. She was sitting next to Abel, who was just staring out the window.

He couldn't stop thinking how close he almost was to kissing Rose. He kept playing the scene over and over again in his head. He still hadn't stopped kicking himself for saying something so foolish instead of saying what he truly meant.

_You're so stupid Abel!_ He thought as he sighed softly, listening to the ramblings of his sister going on about the Methosian Empire. _You should have just told her right then and there! Now you may never get the chance and she may even think you are a complete moron! Stupid STUPID Abel._

"Abel?"

He snapped out of his thoughts as he heard Rose speak. "Yes Rose?"

"What's Rome like?" She asked as she looked at him.

"Rome is a fantastic city! I know it like i know the back of my hand!" He said as he smiled at the girl.

"You do not!" Esther said as she looked up from her book. "That's the same lie you told me and you got us lost!"

Abel laughed nervously as he looked at the queen. "But we found the Vatican eventually."

Rose and Seth watched the two fight as they started eating a half loft of bread. Rose found this actually entertaining and was smiling as the argument went on. At one point she was laughing at the two of them, which made Abel stop and look at her.

He smiled at her, seeing her so happy. _I'm glad someone finds this funny.

* * *

  
_

Is was the middle of the night and Abel couldn't sleep. _Damn trains. Why does everyone think it's easy to fall asleep on a train? I can't sleep a wink._ He thought as he just layed on his bed.

Seth was above him on the fold out bed and Esther was on the other. Rose was curled up and asleep on the other bench. A lock of her silver bangs was going across her angelic face.

Abel smiled as he looked at her. _She truly is that of an angel._

Just then, something flashed by the window.

_What was that?_ Abel got out of bed quietly and looked out the window. He looked everywhere outside the glass and saw nothing but trees.

He groaned and the sighed. _Thought for sure i saw something._ He then turned around and gasped.

Rose's bed was empty.

"Rose!" He whispered softly, not wanting to wake the other two girls. He quickly got dressed in his priest robes, leaving the cape, and went looking for Rose.

_Maybe i'm just being paranoid._ He thought as he walked down the hallway. _Maybe Rose just went to use the restroom or something? _He then glanced out the windows. _I hope she did. I still can't help feel like i do towards her. There's something about her that has me intoxicated._

He then turned when he heard someone yawning. He turned around and saw Rose letting out a big yawn. She was still wearing her cloths, having not found nightgowns on her victims. Or so she proclaimed.

"Rose." He said softly as he smiled at her, glad that she was alright.

She jumped a bit and soon saw the father was there. "Oh Abel. What are you doing up?"

"I.....I thought i saw something. And then i noticed you were missing. I thought that.....umm....."

She just smiled at him. "Esther was right. You can be paranoid at the oddest....." She stopped talking when she saw something pass by the windows. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Abel watched her move toward the window and saw the thing pass by the window. "Did you see that too?"

"Yes. I did." She then looked up at him. "What do you think it was?"

"I don't know. But i'm going to find out." He then headed back to the cabin to get his gun.

"I'm coming with you." Rose said as she followed him.

"No. It's too dangerous." He had to whisper now since they were back in the cabin.

"Yes. It's too dangerous for you to go alone." She pulled down her duffel bag and zipped it open.

"I can take care of myself." He said as he pulled on the holster and put the gun in it's place.

"From what Esther and Seth told about you, i highly doubt that." She pulled out the lock box and pulled off the key that was taped to the bottom of the box. She opened it and pulled out a .38 caliber revolver in gunmetal black.

"That looks just like my gun." Abel said as he watched her loud the gun with silver bullets.

"I was drawn to this gun when i saw it." She said as she put a few more bullets into the pocket of her pants. "Ready?"

_She sure is stubborn._ He thought as he nodded. He took a look at his sibling and the the queen to make sure they were still asleep and then left the cabin.

Rose closed the door behind them and followed the priest down the hallway. "You know. This is the first time i've ever used this gun."

"Is it now?" Abel looked carefully around the car for whatever it was they had seen. "Well i guess you are going to get in some practice now huh?"

Rose nodded as she glanced out the window. _Why doesn't the air feel right?_ "Abel.....Something doesn't feel right."

"What do you mean?' He turned around slowly to look at her and soon found himself in shock.

Behind Rose, holding up an axe, was a reanimated corpse of a vampire.

Rose was frozen to the spot, she could see the zombie in the reflection of Abel's glasses. She wasn't breathing and it felt like the world wasn't moving.

She then did something that surprised Abel. She closed her eyes.

The zombie raised his axe higher and Abel had only moments to act. But the moment he moved to get his gun, Rose moved.

Her elbow moved so fast that time was inhuman. She hit the creature right in the jaw so hard that the force of the hit knocked him over, breaking the window and sending him out into the cold summer night air.

"_I told you something doesn't feel right."_ Her voice sounded dark and echo like.

_Just like how my voice goes dark when i.....oh no._ He didn't want it to be true but when she opened her eyes he knew.

She was in crusnik mode.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Abel was amazed by how terrifying Rose looked.

Her eyes were blood red but yet they shined like rubies. The bangs of her silver hair were standing on end while the rest of her hair seemed to have a life of it's own, flowing in a wind that didn't seem to flow with that of the wind coming in through the broken window. Her skin paled considerably and her lips turned black, vampiric fangs going over her bottom lip.

She was terrifying and beautiful at the same time.

"Rose....." He couldn't help but utter her name as he looked at her.

She looked back at him sternly and then took a deep breath. As she released the breath, she closed her eyes and her hair stopped flowing and standing on end. Her skin regained it's color and her lips were pink again. The fangs disappeared and when she opened her eyes again, they too were back to their emerald green color. "Yes Abel. That was my crusnik form."

"It was.....it was....."

"I know.....Horrifying." She looked away from him, feeling ashamed. "I get that a lot. I've even been told that i'm a monster."

"No." Abel moved forward and pulled Rose into a hug, which completely surprised her. "You're not a monster. We are not monsters at all. We are who we are."

Rose was silent as she was held in the priests arms.

"And Rose." He took his hand and made her look up at him. "Your crusnik form was terrifyingly beautiful." He said with a caring smile.

Rose stared at him for a minute and then smiled herself. She hugged him back, crying softly into his chest. "Thank you Abel."

He smiled softly at her and stroked her hair as she cried on him. He had a feeling that he was the first one to ever say that she wasn't a monster.

After a few minutes, she pulled away and wiped away her tears with a handkerchief he offered. "We should probably search the rest of the train now huh?"

He nodded. "Indeed. Who knows how many of those zombies are on this train." He said as he glanced out the window.

She soon calmed down and handed back the handkerchief.

But he held up his hand and stopped her. "Keep it. Think of it as a good luck charm and something to remind you of me if anything should ever happen."

She nodded and tucked the piece of cloth away in her back pocket. She picked up the gun where she dropped it and followed the priest to the next car.

Two cars later and they had found nothing. They was now in the baggage car looking around in the dark.

"Do you think that was the only zombie on the train?" Rose asked as she looked over at were the priest was.

Even in the dark, their silver hair seemed to glow slightly.

"I suppose." He said as he looked around. "Maybe the Rosen Kreuz are losing their edge."

"Think again Lord Abel." Came a voice in the dark.

Both crusniks gasped and looked everywhere in the dark. Rose gripped her gun tightly while Abel placed a hand on his.

"Oh. Looks like Lord Abel found my master's little mouse." Came the voice again.

"Why is this guy calling you 'Lord'?" Rose asked as she slowly made her way to the priest.

"There's only one vampire that calls me that." Abel said in a serious tone. "And i hate it."

"Oh do you now?"

The hatch in the ceiling opened and someone on the roof dropped what looked like a stick of dynamite. The was worst thing was.....It was lit.

"TAKE COVER!" Abel grabbed Rose by her hand and ran over to the far end of the car. They ducked behind a large suitcase in time as the dynamite exploded five seconds later.

Rose screamed at the explosion rang in her ears. She gripped Abel tightly as the whole car shook. He covered her as best as he could as several bits of debris went flying everywhere.

They then heard someone laughing at the other end of the car.

"I wonder if the mice survived?" said a vampire with long black hair that reached his knees. He was also wearing a black suit with a red band around his left arm.

Abel took a peek from around the suitcase and glared at the man at the other end of the car. "Von Kampfer!"

He chuckled. "That's right Lord Abel. It may have been a year but it's me. Isaak Fernando Von Kampfer. Title Panzer Magiel. Rank Magus."

"I see you haven't moved up much in the ranks." Abel smirked at the vampire. He then turned to look at Rose, who was still clinging to him with a death grip.

"It doesn't matter. I still have the advantage over you Lord Abel." He said as he snapped his fingers.

From the shadows, blood red demons rose up, their glowing eyes glaring at were the two crusniks where hiding.

A hand came out of the shadows close to Rose and grabbed her leg, causing her to scream.

Abel reacted quickly and pulled out his gun. He shot two bullets at the arm, which released Rose's leg and sank into the shadows again.

"Come on!" He grabbed Rose's hand and pulled them out of their hiding spot.

"Oh there you are little mouse." Isaak smirked as he looked Rose over.

"Little mouse?" _Please tell me she isn't a spy._ Abel thought as he kept a protective grip on her hand.

"Yes. She's my master's little pet." The vampire smirked as he watched Rose move closer to the priest. "But unfortunately, she escaped from us a few months ago. If it wasn't for her little vampire killing spree, we would never had found her."

_Why does he look familiar?_ She thought as she looked at the vampire. Either way, weather she remembered him or not, she knew she didn't want to go with him.

Her grip on Abel's arm sent the signal to the priest and he nodded. "Don't worry Rose. I won't let him take you."

"I'm afraid you don't have a choose." He pointed out to a bridge out in the distance. The train was currently on a cliff side track that over looked a river down below. "Give me the girl willingly or i'll blow up the bridge, causing all the passengers, the queen, the empress, and yourself to parish in the fall."

Abel looked around for options. They were surrounded by blood demons and zombie vampires. They were going to reach the bridge in probably 15 minutes. He could sense that Rose was so scared out of her mind that she couldn't focus on transforming._ What am i going to do? I can't give Rose up to this vampire. But if i don't, everyone, including Esther and Seth, are going to die._

"So which is it Lord Abel?" Isaak said as he smirked at the two crusniks before him. "Will you surrender the girl? Or will you let everyone on this train parish?" He took out a small remote with a single button on it.

Abel finally thought of a solution. He slowly wrapped his arm around Rose and moved her closer to his back, making her grip the back of his coat. "I choose.......neither."

"What was that?" Isaak looked at Abel curiously, giving a silent signal to his minions to get ready to attack.

"I choose neither. You can't have Rose and no one on this train is going to die." He said more firmly. "Because i found a third option."

"Get him!" Isaak yelled as he sent his minions at Abel.

Abel shot Isaak in the shoulder so that at least some of the monsters would focus on their master. He then quickly put his gun away, pulled Rose onto his back and ran to the side of the car, jumping off and falling into the darkness.

"What are you doing?!" Rose yelled as she held onto Abel tightly.

"Rose! Hold onto me!" Was all he yelled back as they fell. "Nano-machines! Crusnik 02! Power output 40%! Activate!"

Rose screamed with her eyes closed as they were just seconds from hitting the trees. She didn't see Abel's hair soon standing on end as his power was activated. She then gasped as she felt something burst out from under her and out of Abel's back. She opened her eyes and saw a large pair of black steel wings coming out of the priests back.

"Abel?"

"_Just hold on!"_ His voice was as cold as ice, sending shivers down her spine. _"We're going back for Esther and Seth. I have a feeling Von Kampfer already killed off the passengers."_ He said as he pulled up out of the dive and went soreing into the night sky.

Rose nodded and held onto Abel tightly. He didn't move his wings at all, they were just gliding. But he flew fast and hard to chance up with the train.

She then jumped as she heard a loud explosion. She looked over to the bridge and saw it had just been destroyed. And the train was about minutes away from falling down and into the river.

"We have to hurry!" She said to him as she looked down at the train.

"_I know! I'm going as fast as i can!" _

They then heard another explosion and saw the engine had caught on fire, making it go fast down the tracks.

"Oh no!"

"_Rose! Hold on!"_ Abel made a dive bomb toward the end of the train.

Rose held onto him tightly, keeping a close eye on the train.

They got to the train within seconds and landed on the roof of where their cabin was.

Rose jumped off his back and Abel sank his claws into the metal roof. She was impressed with his strength as he ripped a hole into the solid metal roof and made a hole large enough to see inside. But what they saw surprised them both.

No one was in the cabin and the window was broken. All their stuff was missing except for Rose's bag and Abel's suitcase.

"_Seth must have noticed we were gone and probably found a zombie or two."_ Abel thought as he help Rose into the cabin so she could get their stuff.

"She and Esther must have escaped then." She said as she handed up Abel's suitcase and her bag.

The crusnik nodded and then helped Rose out of the hole in the roof.

Once she was on the roof she looked at Abel. His hair was on end, making it look like he had a tall crown on his head. His skin was pale, his lips were black and fangs were going over his bottom lip.

But what truely had her hypnotised was his blood red ruby eyes.

"Abel...." She said breathlessly as she looked at him.

"_What?"_

"I.....AHH!!" Rose lost her balance as the train turned sharply on the tracks.

She was about to fall off the roof when Abel grabbed her hand. _"Rose!"_

"ABEL!" She held onto his clawed hand tightly, her feet standing right on the edge of the roof.

The bag slide off the roof and the suitcase slide and hit Abel's foot. He became off balance and the both of them fell off the train. Luckily, they were on the side of the train that didn't lead to a deadly fall.

They landed on the soft dirt and rolled around until they came to a stop. Abel groaned and got up off the ground. He looked up just in time to see the train reach the destroyed bridge and fall down into the river below.

He sighed and deactivated the nano-machines. He then stood up and looked around for Rose. "Rose! Rose where are you?"

"Abel!" Came a voice from behind him.

He turned around and saw at least one of the girls he was looking for.

Esther and Seth were running toward him, smiling.

"Brother! You're okay!" Seth said as she jumped into her brothers arms.

Abel smiled seeing the queen and his little sister were alright. "Yes i'm fine."

"Where's Rose?" Esther asked as she looked around the area.

"Help!" Rose's voice came from behind them.

"Rose!" Abel followed her cries until he found her caught in a net up in a tree. The sight of it made him smile.

"Get me out of here!" She was struggling with the ropes of the net, trying to get free.

"Alright alright. Calm down." Abel was laughing as he went over to the girl.

Seth was just smiling. "You know what Esther?"

"What is it Seth?" Esther was smiling as well.

"That was something i was expecting Abel to have done. Getting caught in a net i mean." She said as they watched the priest untie the knot in the rope. But he didn't catch the rope in time and Rose dropped to the ground, letting out a soft 'ow'

"Life is never dull with Abel around." Esther said as she saw him throwing a thousand apologizes to Rose for dropping her.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

After finding their stray bags, the group found a nice cave in the woods and slept for the rest of the night.

By morning, they headed out and made their way north.

Esther was smart enough to have packed the food into her bag so that they would have something to eat still.

Rose had her bag strapped to her back. She had found the strap, still brand new and held together by a plastic band, in a side pocket of the bag. Her revolver was tucked away in an inside pocket of her coat. She had it there in case anything should happen or should Isaak return. Both she and Abel had a feeling the vampire was still around, probably hiding in a cave until night fall so he could track them down.

Seth seemed to be having the time of her life. She was totally acting her age and running around like a little child.

Abel was glad to see her so happy. It was about time his little sister acted her age and not as an empress of vampires.

By sundown, they had stopped in a tiny clearing big enough for them all.

Rose and Seth gathered some fire wood for the night while Esther and Abel were fighting again.

"Do they always fight like that?" Rose asked as they had started their way back to the camp site.

"Yeah. Mostly over brother's stupidity though. But getting us lost seems to make Esther panic a lot." Seth said as adjusted the arm load of logs that she had.

Rose laughed softly as they soon entered the camp where the queen and priest were still arguing.

"But you ALWAYS get us lost Abel!" Esther said as Rose dropped the arm load of wood beside her bag.

"Not all the time though Esther!" Abel retorted as Seth droped her pile next to Rose's as well.

"You got us lost in Rome." She said as she looked at him stern.

Rose was putting the fire together as Abel responded. "But we found the Vatican eventually! I told you that already!"

"You got lost in the Vatican itself trying to find Lady Caterina's office!"

Seth blew at the smoking embers so that they would catch fire.

"Yes and then Tris found me and helped me find her office!"

The embers soon caught fire and the two girls cheered.

"And you lost your way in the Ghetto!"

Rose sighed as she looked up at Abel.

"That doesn't prove anything! The Ghetto is a very big place! Even the people who live there must get lost sometimes!"

"Yes! Sometimes! Not all the time!"

Abel sighed and went over to the fire and sat down next to Rose.

"I'm just saying that i better hope you don't get us lost this time!" Esther said as she sat down next to Seth.

"I won't! We just need to keep heading north and we are bound to find a city that can help us get to Rome!"

"We better." Esther reached over and pulled her bag over to her. "Knowing you and your sense of direction, we'll probably fall off a cliff or something."

Abel glared at the queen and then looked away.

Rose sighed as shook her head. She then stood up and dusted herself off. "I'll be right back. I'm gonna explore for a bit."

"Alright but don't go to far Rose." Abel said as he smiled up at her.

Rose nodded and the head into the trees. She walked about 30 feet away from the camp and then leaned against a tree, looking up at the darkening sky.

She couldn't believe so much had happened in only a few days.

First she finds out she's a crusnik and not the only one of her kind. Second, she makes friends with the most foolish priest she ever met, plus the Queen of Alvion and the Empress of the True Race of Vampires. Then she and Abel get attacked by zombies and demons and a vampire that she is sure she has seen before. And finally, she falls in love with the clumsy priest and saw his darker side.

_Is this really happening? Is this truly not a dream?_ She asked herself as she noticed the first star starting to appear in the sky. _I truly hope this is not a dream. Abel....he's so sweet and kind. He knows what i'm going through too. Since he's just like me._

A breeze came through and made her bangs cross her face. She smiled as moved her bangs behind her ear. _Abel. If only i could say those three little words to express how much i love you._

Meanwhile, Abel was looking though a gap between the trees and spied on Rose. In the dimming light, he had found her even more graceful and angelic. They had the perfect chemistry, he could feel it between them and it was getting stronger with each day. He wanted to know more about her, know more about her powers. He hadn't felt this truly happy since before Lilith passed away.

_Come on Abel. She's alone. We're alone. Just go over there and tell her._ Said his little inner voice. He agreed with his inner self and slowly stepped out from behind the tree. "Rose."

She let out a smell squeak of surprise and then smiled seeing that it was just the priest. "Abel. It's just you."

"Yes." He was smiling as he went over to her. "I....I need to tell you something."

"What is it?" Rose tilted her head a bit as she looked at him.

"Rose." He reached out and gently took her hands in his. "Rose i've been wanting to tell you.....Something that....that's been on my mind for a few days now."

"Yes?" Rose's heartbeat was accelerating again as she looked at him. The distance between them was slowly starting to become smaller.

"Rose....I.....I can't help what i feel....toward you i mean.....And i.....I just wanted....wanted to say that.....that...." _DAMMIT ABEL NIGHTROAD! DON"T DO THIS AGAIN! JUST TELL HER STRAIGHT OUT THAT YOU......._ He then broke away from his thoughts when he heard something move around them. He pulled Rose into his arms in a protective manner and looked around the area.

"Abel? What is it? What's wrong?" Rose asked as she looked up at him.

"Someone's here." He said softly as he strained his hearing for the source. "It's circling us."

Rose stayed quiet as she looked around the area. It then dawned on her they it was just the two of them. "Abel! We have to get back to Esther and Seth."

Abel nodded and took out his gun. They quickly made their way back to the camp to make sure the two royals were alright.

They found the queen and empress eating some bread and were glad they were alright.

"Abel? What's wrong?" Seth asked as she looked up at her brother.

"Why do you have you're gun out?" Esther asked when she noticed the gun.

"Something is out there." Abel said as he put away the gun.

"Are you sure?" Seth was a little worried now as she looked at her brother.

"I don't know. It seems that they must have given up once Rose and i started moving." Abel sat down by the fire, still holding Rose's hand, who sat down nest to him.

"There's something about this forest that doesn't feel right." Rose said as she kept holding Abel's hand. There was some part of her that didn't want to let go.

"How do you know these things?" Abel asked as he looked at her.

"I am able to sense things in the air and pressure in the currents. If something is off with either one of them, then something is wrong." Rose explained as her thumb mindlessly made circles on Abel's hand.

"Uh huh. And why are you holding my brother's hand?" Seth asked as she smirked at the girl.

"Uh...." Rose looked down at her hand and saw it entangled with the priest's. "Uh....well.....i uh.....I just....uh...." She was blushing heavily as she tried to think up an excuse for hold his hand.

"She....she was worried and me holding her hand makes her feel more comfortable!" Abel blurted out for her. He wanted to keep holding her hand just as much as she did.

Rose agreed. "Yeah! That's it! This forest is so weird it's creeping me out."

Esther shrugged and Seth just giggled.

Rose and Abel just sighed, still holding each others hand.

* * *

It was later that night and Rose woke up with a start. The feeling she had been getting had gotten stronger in her sleep. When she went to rub her eyes of sleep, she found one of her hands was entangled in something.

She looked at her hand and smiled softly. It was still holding Abel's hand and he was dead asleep and curled up on the forest floor. She was amazed at how cute he looked in his sleep.

_I bet not even an explosion would wake him up. _She thought as she just continued to look at him.

She then gasped as she heard something moving around them and the feeling getting even stronger.

"Abel!" She whispered as she tried to wake the priest. "Abel wake up!"

He groaned as he was shaken from his slumber. He then opened his eyes and saw how worried Rose looked. "What is it?"

"Remember that feeling i got earlier? It's back. And i heard something moving beyond the trees." She said as she looked at him.

"_You shall not pass."_ Came an unearthly female voice from the trees.

The sudden sound of the voice caused Esther and Seth to wake up.

"What was that?" Esther looked around the area and searching for her rifle.

"_You shall not leave."_

"Who was that?" Seth pulled the jacket she was using as a blanket close to her.

"I don't know." Rose said as she stood up with Abel. "But it doesn't sound friendly."

"Who's out there?" Abel called out to the darkness.

After moments of silence, a girl appeared outside the line of trees.

"Who are you?" Rose asked as she gripped her gun.

The girl just smirked, showing her fangs.

_Vampire!_ The thought went through all their minds as they stared at the girl.

"What to you want?" Abel asked calmly for all of them.

"_Those who defile the Forest of Promise....Especially Terran....Shall not pass." _Then with a wave of her hand, tree vines came out of no where and attacked them.

Esther and Seth were tied up with the vines and pulled off into the forest. Rose screamed as the vines wrapped around her body and attempted to pull her into the woods but wasn't.

She and Abel were holding onto each other tightly.

"Abel!" She looked over at him and could see he was being pulled into the other direction.

"Don't let go Rose." Abel was struggling to free his other arm so he could have a better grip on her hand but couldn't move at all.

The vines wrapped around the vampire girl and she was lifted off the ground. She moved over to the priest and smiled at him. _"You are coming with me priest. You will provide the answers i seek."_ She waved her hand again and the vines on the two pulled harder.

Rose and Abel screamed with pain as the thorny vines pulled harder.

Rose then gasped as she noticed her grip was slipping. "Abel! I'm starting to slip!"

"Rose!" He could feel his glove starting to slip off his hand as she tried to get a better grip. But the sudden movement caused his glove to come off and send the two flying into the trees.

"ABEL!" Rose screamed as the vines pulled her into the forest. She could almost hear him screaming her name as she was pulled deeper into the forest.

She was now struggling with the vines to get back to Abel. _He saved me from Isaak. Now it's my turn to save him. _

She concentrated on her power and awakened her crusnik side. _"LET. GO!"_ She let off an electro static discharge that burned away then vines.

She was dropped to the ground and landed on her feet. She then stood and looked around with her red eyes. She then looked down at her hand and saw the glove.

_Abel._ She looked sadly at the glove and then tucked it away in her front pocket. She then summoned her black wings and looked up into the air. _"I'm coming Abel!"_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Esther was struggling with the vines that had pinned her to a tree deep in the forest. "Let go of me! Let go!" She knew it was pointless to speak to vines but she couldn't think of anything else.

A vine then wrapped around her neck, the thorns cutting into her flesh. The vine then began to choke her as the rest of the vines started making more cuts on her body.

_Oh god. I'm going to die here. Someone please save me!_

"_Release her now!"_ Came a dark echoing voice.

Esther opened her eyes and looked over at the being that had spoken. She couldn't believe who it was. _Seth?_

Seth was in crusnik form and holding the most enormous pair of tuning forks she had ever seen.

"_I said release her!" _Seth raised one of the forks and pointed it at Esther.

When the vines didn't budge, Seth released her sonic blast attack, focusing on the vines she so didn't harm the queen. The vines instantly turned to salt like dust and disappeared into the wind.

Esther fell to the ground, coughing and holding her throat.

Seth powered down and went over to her friend. "You okay Esther?"

"Yes.....Yes i'm okay now." She said as she carefully stood up. "Thanks for saving me Seth."

"No problem." She said as she smiled. "But we gotta go find Rose and Abel. Who knows what that vampire is doing to them."

Esther nodded and they both started running through the forest.

What they didn't know was that Rose was flying right above them, smiling at seeing that they were alright. She then looked around the forest for any sort of sign that would lead her to the priest.

She saw a strange tree in the middle of the forest on top of what looked like a hill. But it was the odd fact that it was glowing that caught her eyes. _Abel!_ She flew off in the direction of the tree and prayed that Abel was alright.

* * *

Abel groaned as he awoke with a splitting headache. _What happened to me?_ He thought as he slowly opened his eyes. He then gasped as he noticed he was ten feet in the air and pinned to a tree with vines. It then hit him as to what happened.

The moment his glove slipped off him and Rose flew off, he was sent backwards and hit his head. He guessed he hit a tree branch or something and was knocked out.

"_You're awake. That's very good."_ The vampire girl said from above him.

He looked up and watched as the girl was lowered by the vines from the branches above him. She soon came to be eye level with him and just smiled at him. She was sitting on a swing made of the very vines that held him down to the tree.

"Where am i?" He asked nicely as he looked at her.

"_Where?" _She tilted her head and smiled at him. _"This is the Forest of Promise....Where i await him."_

He looked around were the tree was and noticed how large it was. "There wasn't a forest here originally was there?"

She shook her head. _"That's right. Until 500 years ago, there was only a small hill. And though i wait and wait, he does not come."_

"Who is 'he'?" He was trying to stall for as long as he could until one of the girls could come to his rescue.

"_He is whom I love. Though i've forgotten who he is."_ She said as she looked down at the ground below. _"Methuselah? Terran? I cannot remember. But he planted me and now this tree has become a forest. And now i wonder...."_

Abel watched as the vines moved her closer to him. She reached out and ran her fingers though his hair. He shivered silently at his touch, for her fingers were as cold as ice.

"_I wonder if you are my love?" _She looked deeply into his eyes, removing his glasses and letting them fall until the cord connected to his glasses stopped them.

She looked deeper into his eyes and then sighed. _"You are not my love....Are you?"_

"Well.....I....." He then gasped as he felt his legs being crushed.

He looked down and saw that more vines had appeared and were starting to cover his body. He grimaced as he felt the thorns cut into his legs as the vines moved up to his chest. "What are you doing?"

"_I cried and cried and withered away when he didn't return." _ She said as she moved away from him. _"Now give me your blood and bring nourishment for my tree."_

He couldn't move. And he just knew he couldn't use his crusnik power in a situation like this. He was pinned down very tightly, his arms held up above him. He then looked up when he realized he could feel a vine going across his hand. One of his gloves was missing and a vine was going over it.

_Rose. Before i die.....I would have at least liked to tell you what i wanted to tell you earlier...._He thought as he looked up into the sky, slowly closing his eyes. _Rose. I love you._

"_ABEL!!!!"_

He gasped and looked up into the sky. He smiled seeing the one person he wanted to see. "Rose."

"_You shall not take him!"_ The vampire said as she sent her vines towards the flying crusnik.

"_Like hell i can't!" _She then did something he never saw before.

She rose her hands above her head and a enormous blood bow appeared in her hand. She then pulled at the string and an arrow made of pure electricity appeared. _"Release him! NOW!"_

"_I think not. I need his blood." _The girl said as she glared at Rose.

"_I heard everything." _Rose said as she pointed the arrow at the girl. _"To love your lover for hundreds of years, you'd change your nature from living being to tree?"_

She bowed her head. _"Yes. I thought that if he came back for me, then i could leave this forest. And be happy with him."_

"Even...for a....methuselah...." Abel muttered out. His vision was getting blurry and he was starting to feel weak. "500 years.....is....impossible.....He'll....He'll never return."

Rose nodded. _"He's right miss vampire. So you must let this man go and end this."_ She said as she lowered her bow. _"Your lover cannot end your suffering. And for that, i am sorry. But you can halt your pain."_

The girl raised her hand and the vines moving on Abel stopped cutting him and taking his blood. _"But how?"_

"_You can...refuse to wait."_ Rose smiled softly at the girl, and even in crusnik form, Abel found her smile beautiful.

But he couldn't stay awake anymore. The vines had taken too much blood. "Rose...I...." His head then dropped as he couldn't keep it up anymore.

"_Abel!" _Rose looked down at Abel and though that she was too late.

"_Don't worry. He's not dead."_ The girl said as she waved her hand again. The vines pulled away from the priest and gently lowered him to the ground. The girl was smiling as she looked back up at Rose. _"I can sense that you two have strong feelings for each other. And because of that, and the realization that my love is never to return, I will surrender him. But only if you can do one thing for me."_

"_And what would that be Miss. Vampire?" _Rose asked as she looked at the poor girl.

"_Kill me. So i can be with my love in death." _She then rose into the air so that Rose could shoot her arrow and not harm the priest.

Rose looked at the poor girl and then nodded. _"Very well." _She raised her bow again and pulled the electric arrow back, taking aim at the girl's heart. _"Go with peace in death. And may your love be there for you at the gates of heaven." _After saying the prayer for the poor girl, she released her arrow and a loud thunder clap erupted over the forest.

The arrow hit the girl dead on and started electrocuting her. Right before she exploded, the girl looked at Rose and smiled. _"Thank you."_ She then exploded in a bright flash of light and the tree behind her started turning to ash.

Rose made her bow disappear and flew down to Abel.

"Rose....I....I...." His voice was barely a whisper when Rose landed next to him.

"_I'm right here Abel."_ She said as she took his hand in her clawed hand held his.

"Rose...." He smiled hearing her voice. "I....I love....you..."

Rose smiled greatly and made him sit up. _"Abel...Look at me."_

He slowly opened his eyes and looked up into her demonic red eyes. "What is it?"

"_I love you too Abel." _She said as she smiled at him.

He smiled weakly back and moved closer.

Rose met him halfway and closed the distance between them, resulting in the two of them kissing. The ashes fell around them like snow when Esther and Seth arrived.

The two royals smiled at the two of them. They knew that Abel and Rose liked each other and both knew they were being foolish at not admitting it.

Rose slowly changed back into her human state as she continued to kiss to Abel. Abel continued to kiss back until he passed out from blood loss. Rose just laughed at him as his head fell backward and she saw the goofy smile on his face.

"Abel. You are such a goofball." She said as she just smiled at him.

Esther and Seth then came over to see if he was alright and smiled see that he was. Seth then noticed that there was a way out behind them. She and the queen then ran back to the campsite, get their things, and camp near the exit so they could find it in the morning.

Rose moved her bag closer to her and Abel so they could use it as a pillow. But as the night went on and the four of them slept, Rose moved down to the priests' chest and listened to his heart beating as she slept. Soon after she did, Abel woke up a bit and smiled at Rose being to close to him. He placed his arm around her waist and then went back to sleep, happy that he finally told Rose that he loved her.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Abel woke up again the next morning and just stared up at the sky. The wounds that the thorny vines had given him had healed during his sleep and he no longer felt weak. That made him happy, but what truly made him happy was what else had happened that night before he passed out.

He finally admitted that he loved Rose, and that she returned his love and sealed it with a kiss. A kiss that she held until he passed out.

He then jumped a bit as he felt something moving on his chest.

He looked down and smiled at what he saw.

Still asleep on his chest, her head over his heart and an arm across his torso, was Rose herself. She was sleeping peacefully on him as if he was a pillow.

"Glad to see that you're awake." Esther said as she sat up from sleeping on the ground.

He nodded at the queen and then looked back at Rose. "I'm glad that she was there to save me last night." He whispered so that he couldn't wake his Rose.

Esther smiled back and opened her bag. She broke off a chunk of bread and handed it to Abel. He took the bread and started eating. He was starving and didn't want his growling stomach awaken his sleeping angel.

_My sleeping angel? _He smirked a bit at the phrase. _I rather like the sound of that._

Seth soon woke up and smiled at her brother, giggling as she noticed how Rose was sleeping on him.

Soon after, Rose finally woke up and smiled as she snuggled with his chest. He chuckled softly as he looked at her. She then looked up and smiled at Abel. "Hey."

"Hey yourself." He couldn't stop smiling at her.

She laughed softly and snuggled him. "I'm so glad your okay. I thought for a moment that..." She was stopped when Abel placed a finger on her lips.

He then shook his head. "It takes a lot more then blood loss to kill me."

She smiled and kissing his finger, which made him smile.

"You guys are so cute together!" Seth said happily as she giggled.

Esther just smiled as she ate her share of bread.

Abel just stuck his tongue out at his sister, who did the same back to him. Rose just laughed at the two siblings being silly.

* * *

It was about an hour later and the group had packed up and continued onward through the forest by the exit they found last night.

Rose and Abel were holding each other's hand as they walked. Rose talked more about her other powers. Like listening in on conversations through windows by using her claws and that she didn't need an activation code to turn on her powers. Her crusnik side activated whenever she was incredibly stressed or angry. It never worked if she was scared. And she could easily slip in and out of the crusnik state very easily.

By late afternoon, they finally reached a city called Lauria.

"That means we are only about a third of the way to Rome." Esther said as they all sat down at a cafe.

The other's nodded in agreement and decided of what to eat. They all avoid bread and water, having been eating it for the past few days.

"_Father Nightroad?"_ Abel jumped as he heard his ear piece suddenly go off. _"Father Nightroad? Are you there? Where in God's name are you?"_

"Abel? Is everything okay?" Rose asked as she noticed that he looked a little jumpy.

"Yes Rose. I'm fine. It's just my communicator ear piece." He said as he pointed at the metal clip on his ear. "I guess the forest made my communicator lose signal and caused Sister Kate to panic." He chuckled a bit as he smiled at her.

Rose nodded and then continued eating her soup.

"You better let Sister Kate know that we are okay." Esther said as she looked at him.

Abel nodded and stood up from his seat. He kissed Rose on the cheek and the went off to find a place where he could talk to the panicking sister. He soon found an alley and pressed the button to speak into the ear piece. "Yes Sister Kate. I'm here."

"_WHERE THE BLOOD HELL HAVE YOU BEEN NIGHTROAD?!!!" _She yelled into his ear.

He screamed in pain and gripped his ringing ear. "Sister Kate! Must you yell? You did that right in my ear!"

"_Sorry Abel but we were all starting to worry about you and the girls. We lost your signal two nights ago and thought the worse had happened." _She said as she calmed down. _"And then we got this report of thunder erupted over the Forest of Promise. What the hell happened to you?"_

"Well first off. We found the vampire murderer. Her name is Rose. She's....Like me....She's a crusnik. A brilliant and powerful one." He said as he leaned against the wall.

"_You found her? That's great!"_

"We were on our way back to Rome by train when we got attacked by Von Kampfer. For some reason, my brother wants Rose. Von Kampfer kept calling her 'little mouse' for some reason. Made my skin crawl now that i think about it."

"_The Rosen Kreuz attacked?"_ Sister Kate exclaimed. _"She must be important then if the Contra Monde is sending his agents out to get her."_

"I think so too." He sighed softly at the mere thought of it. "But whatever the reason he wants Rose, i don't care. He can't have her."

"_Whoa. Calm down Abel! Why are you so....OH MY LORD!" _ It suddenly dawned on her why he talked like that. _"You fell in love with her didn't you?!"_

"Was it that obvious?"

"_Well it kinda was from how you described her and how defensive you just were just now when you thought of your brother taking her from you."_ She said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Abel sighed out of embarrassment. "It sort of just....happened! I swear! One thing lead to the next and then next thing i know, we're kissing after she destroyed a vampire that was trying to kill me!" He said as he walked around in circles. "I have to admit though that it was pretty nice seeing her asleep on my......"

"_That's besides the point Nightroad."_ Sister Kate interrupted. _"What matters is getting Miss Rose to the Vatican where she can be safe. The Iron Maiden is close to your location. I'll have the captain steer the ship in your direction and we'll pick you up later tonight."_

Abel nodded. "Very well then Sister Kate. If you insist that is the safest way to reach Rome."

"_Indeed it is Nightroad. We'll pick you and the girls up outside the city near night fall. Is that alright?"_

"Yes that's fine. The sooner Rose is safe, the better." Abel said as he looked out into the street.

"_Alright then. And Father Nightroad....DON__'T BE LATE!"_ She then shut off the communication to end the conversation.

Abel sighed and made his way back to the cafe.

* * *

Later that day, the group was outside the city limits, waiting for the Iron Maiden to come and pick them up. They were all waiting in a field looking up at the sky.

Seth was picking flowers and weaving them into odd things.

Abel was sitting with Rose and they were having a entertaining game of thumb war. They made up a rule were the loser has to kiss the winner. Which proved to be fun since Abel always seemed to lose and had to kiss Rose.

Esther was staring up at the darkening sky, looking for any sign of the battleship that was to come.

It wasn't until it was completely dark when the airship finally lowered to the ground and picking the four of them up.

"Welcome to the Iron Maiden." Said a blonde woman in white nun robes. "You must be Rose." She said as she nodded at the girl.

"Yes i am. But who are you?" Rose asked as she shook the woman's hand.

"I am Sister Kate Scott." She said as she bowed to them. She then looked up at Abel and smirked. "At least you made it on time Father Nightroad."

"I had to remind him." Esther said as she dropped her bag by the door.

Seth giggled. "He was being distracted by Rose."

Abel turned red in the face and looked away. "Seth! Stop embarrassing me."

Seth just laughed more and Rose just smiled at her priest.

Kate smiled softly and shook her head. "What are we going to do with you Abel?"

All the girls laughed as Abel's face turned even redder. He then joined in the laughing as the air ship took off into the sky.

* * *

Sister Kate showed them around the ship and then brought them to their rooms. For some bizarre and probably coincidence, Abel and Rose were showed to their own room. Rose didn't mind but Abel felt a little uncomfortable.

But the uneasiness soon went away when she kissed him and went to take a shower.

He took off his cape and gun holster and flopped on the bed. _Ah yes. No more sleeping on the dirt. Oh thank you heavenly father._

He soon found himself falling into a deep sleep and didn't wake up when his ear piece went off. He was extremely tired having to be woke up in the middle of the night for two nights in a row by vampire attacks and having to guard the girls for the past two days.

Rose soon came out and smiled at him. _He's got to be exhausted from having to protect us. _She said as she went over to her bag and grabbed some cloths that she knew where clean. She put on some black slacks, and a black spaghetti strap shirt that hugged her slim figure very nicely.

She then went over to the bed and managed to pull the covers out from under the out cold priest and snuggle close to him. She pulled the covers over them and curled up with is chest. Just like in the forest, her head was on his heart and an arm was across his torso. In reaction to feeling her on him, Abel's arm wrapped around her waist and held her close to him.

Both slept peacefully in each others arms.

* * *

Else where, a certain vampire wasn't very happy with what his scanners were telling him.

"Damn it!" Dietrich yelled as he slammed his fist on the counter. "Von Kampfer failed and now she's in the hands of the Vatican!"

"And i suppose her falling for my brother doesn't count for anything now does it?" Cain said as he sat in a chair, drinking blood wine.

"It was bound to happen. I just knew it would." Dietrich said as he stared at the monitors. "Her heart rate, the adrenalin rush, the obvious fact that she's with the priest. It was bound to happen that she was going to fall for him."

"Indeed." Cain set his glass on the arm of the chair and came up behind Dietrich. "But does she truly love him for who he is? Or because he looks like me?"

Dietrich glanced at his lord. "Are you sure about that? I mean she did hit you with that arrow and stole your mother's pendent."

"Actually, it's her's. I just took it from her while we were doing the experiments on her." He said as he smirked at the screens. "I didn't know it had that much meaning to her. She sure did put up quite a remarkable fight."

"Indeed she did." Dietrich nodded in agreement. "She is quiet a remarkable being. A crusnik with the power to shoot off lightning arrows, sense sound vibrations with her claws, and sense oddities in the air around her. Not to mention the she doesn't need to say an activation code to turn on the crusnik powers." He placed his hand on a file that was sitting on the control panel next to him. "I wonder what your mother was thinking?"

Cain smirked and chuckled as he stared at a screen that showed a video file of his little mouse asleep in some sort of hibernation chamber. _Indeed. What were you thinking Lilith? Why did you create such a beautiful crusnik?_


	9. Chapter 9

_**I'm back! Sorry it took so long in posting. Been busy with my other stories and work.**_

_**And to the two reviewers who left rather insulting criticisms. I'm not taking your crits seriously because i know what i'm doing and i'm not being a total idiot. I happen to have the limited edtion DVD set that comes with information booklets on everything and everyone in the show. I know that there are four crusniks, but for all anyone knows at the time of this show's time period, there are only three ALIVE! And it's not "fourth" it's "4th", as in Rose's crusnik number is 04 (to be found out later on in the story). And did you ever think that maybe Abel was in such a state of shock at hearing there was another like him that he couldn't help but blurt out to Rose what he is? No? didn't think so.**_

_**It's a little thing called READING BETWEEN THE LINES!**_

_**On another note, this update was requested to me by a miss Gothicgirl. So this chapter is dedicated to her as a thank you for getting me to update. -hands Goth a plate of cookies-**_

_**And now enough rambling. Here's the long awaited chapter of my T.B. story.**_

_**

* * *

  
**_

Chapter 9

Rose groaned in her sleep and gripped Abel's coat. She was having a dream that she's been having for the past few weeks.

_She was half awake as staring up through a glass window. She could feel about fifteen wires where connected to various parts of her body. She couldn't see much through the glass because of the light that was directly above her._

'_Where am i? Where's momma?' She thought as she just stared at the light._

"_Is she stabilized yet?" Came a voice that she didn't recognize at all._

_This was the first time in her dreams that she was able to hear the voices outside the glass._

"_Yes she is." Came another voice that was different from the first one. "I can't believe that for hundreds of years, this crusnik was in a comatose state and hidden in the catacombs. How could she had survived all these years?"_

_She just continued to stare up at the light. Then a head appeared over the glass, blocking the light. A blonde man with icy blue eyes was smiling at her. _

'_Who are you? Where's my momma?'_

"_Indeed." The man just smiled at her. She didn't know why but she didn't like the way he was looking at her. "How could you have survived all this time, my little mouse? And hidden away for so long and no one knew about it. That is, until Isaak found you."_

'_Isaak?'_

"_Everything is ready my lord." Said a third voice that sounded like he was right next to the blonde. "And the transport is here"._

"_Good. Get her to the air ship immediately. I want no chances in the Vatican or my foolish brother finding out about this." The blonde then went behind the view of her glass window._

_The glass was then covered with a cloth and all she could feel was movement of whatever it was that she was in._

Rose gasped as she woke up back in the Iron Maiden. She sat up and held her head as she tried to understand the dream. _The blonde one? Was he....Cain?_

She then looked around the room and noticed that she was alone. "Abel?"

She got out of bed and noticed a note taped to the door. She went over to it and pulled off the note to read it.

_Rose,_

_Had to go into a meeting this morning, since i missed Sister Kate calling me to one last night. Must have passed out on the bed last night. _

She laughed softly as she soon realized the note was from Abel. She then continued to read the note as she went over to sit on the bed.

_I hope you slept well. You looked like you were having a nightmare or something when i woke up. I hope it wasn't too bad. _

_Anyway. Me meet at in the dining hall for breakfast. The Iron Maiden has the best pancakes around!_

_Love Abel._

She laughed again at the mention of food and pulled her boots on. She put on her coat and left the room.

It took her about ten minutes to find the dining hall but once she was close, she could smell the food in the air and smiled.

She spotted Abel immediately across the room, eating the mentioned pancakes that were stacked high on his tray.

She smirked and snuck up behind the priest. She soon noticed Seth was there and just smiled and winked. Rose nodded, thanking the empress for not giving her away.

Once she was close enough, she took a deep breath and yelled. "BOO!"

Abel screamed and jumped so high that he almost knocked over the table. Rose and Seth just laughed as he fell on the floor and a pancake landed on his head.

He glanced at Rose for a second and the smiled. "Glad to see you're awake Rose. But did you have to scare me like that?"

Rose just smiled and tried to calm her giggling. "Sorry Abel." She said as she help him to stand. She then helped get the pancake off his head and wiped off the trail of syrup running down the side of his face. She licked the syrup off her finger and smiled. "Delicious!"

Abel smiled and sat back down at the table.

Seth had calmed down and was just smiling. "Good morning Rose."

"Good morning Seth." Rose smiled as she sat next to Abel, who was trying to get the syrup out of his hair using a wet towel an attendant had just given him. "Where's Esther?"

"She's talking with her adviser in Alvion. Making sure everything is okay back there." Seth said as she started eating her pancakes again.

"I see." Rose then looked around the hall before continuing. "I have to tell you guys something important. Something i just discovered in my dreams."

"What is it Rose?" Seth looked at the girl curiously as she had another bit of her pancakes.

"I....I think i had a dream of Cain last night." She said in a whisper.

"What? Cain was in your dream?!" Abel asked in an anxious whisper. "Why were you dreaming of him and not me?"

"It's not like that Abel!" Rose said as she looked down at the table. "I think my dream was more like a memory. Like the one i told you about when we were back in Messina."

"Oh. I see." Abel calmed down quickly, remembering her asking about her brother and what he looked like. "Did you find anything out?"

"Yes. I did." She said as she looked at him.

Seth stayed silent as she looked at the two and ate her breakfast.

"What did you find out?" Abel asked as he looked at her concerned.

"I could hear the voices this time. I could hear Cain talking to two other men in whatever room i was in. One of them said that i was in a coma like state for hundreds of years. Cain then came into my view and he was smiling at me. And in a way i didn't like. I felt like i wanted to get away from him but didn't know why."

"I always knew my brother was able to repeal things." Abel said as he just sat there with the wet towel on his head.

"Anything else?" Seth asked as she looked at Rose.

She shook her head. "Not much else. Cain just said that Isaak was the one who found me and that no one else knew i was even there. I think Isaak was the third voice i heard, saying that the transport had arrived. Cain then disappeared from my view and saying that he didn't want the Vatican or his brother to find out about me."

"But why? I don't understand." Abel pondered as he took off the towel. "I can tell that you are a very powerful crusnik and that may be the reason why he wanted to keep you secret. But the look he gave you that you mentioned.....he may have wanted to use you against me."

Rose shrugged. "Who knows what he wanted me for. All i know is that i soon escaped and got away from him and his flunkies."

Seth nodded. "It's a good thing you got away from him then. Cain is evil to the core. He would like nothing better to kill my favorite brother and take his body."

"Why does he want Abel's body?" Rose asked as she looked at the empress.

"My body is genetically identical to his. His is unstable and is consistently needing maintainance. If he kills me and takes my body, he'll be able to become whole again." Abel said as he tried to fix his hair now.

"Did something happen to his body?"

"Yeah. Abel and i tried to destroy him after he killed Lilith. He's nothing but living ashes now. We really don't know how he's keeping himself alive." Seth said as she watched her brother.

"I see." Rose said as she went into thought about this. She then blushed as her stomach started growling. She laughed nervously as she looked at the crusnik siblings.

Abel just smiled. "I'll get you some breakfast Rose." He said as he got up and went over to the counter.

Rose just smiled as she watched him.

"Hey Rose?" Seth asked in an innocent voice.

"Yes Seth?" Rose looked over at the empress.

"Don't disappoint him okay? I like seeing Abel happy." She said as she looked at the girl. "It's been so long since he's truly been happy. Cain always seems to come along and ruin that happiness for him. I just don't want to see that happen again."

Rose stared at her for a moment and then just smiled. "Don't worry Seth. I wouldn't dream of hurting Abel. I wouldn't even dream of staying with Cain either. There was something about him that i just couldn't stand. I couldn't breath around him at all. But with Abel...." She glanced over at the priest who was getting some syrup for her pancakes now. ".....With Abel.....I feel normal around him. I'm not afraid of the world anymore. And he....he said i wasn't a monster. That's why i love him so much."

Seth smiled and then got up. "I'll leave you two alone then. And Rose...." She went up to Rose and hugged her. "Thanks for making Abel so happy."

Rose laughed and hugged the girl back. "No problem Seth."

Seth smiled and soon pulled away from the hug. She then ran off when Abel came back with a tray of pancakes for his angel.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

It was late in the afternoon when the Iron Maiden reached Rome. Rose and Abel were on the viewing deck. Rose just couldn't believe how beautiful Rome was. She was pressed up against the window, trying to see it all.

Abel was behind her, pointing things out. Mostly where all the best places to eat were. He seemed very excited to be back in Rome. And secretly, he was glad that Rose was now in a safe place.

The air ship landed in the courtyard of the Vatican Cathedral, dropped the four of them off and then took off into the air again. The four of them then walked toward the main part of the building where all the offices were.

Abel lead them up some stairs, down a hallway, turned left, down another hallway, and stopped in front of a door. Esther and Seth left them there and went off to put their things away.

He then took a deep breath and sighed. "Okay. Here we go." He mumbled as he knocked on the door.

Rose just looked at him, a little confused as to why he was so nervous. She then just as she heard a female voice from within the room telling them to come in.

Abel gulped and opened the door, taking Rose's hand and lead her into the room. "Lady Caterina."

"Abel." Caterina stood up from her desk and walked over to them. "I'm so glad that you are okay."

He laughed nervously and then pulled Rose found. "This is Rose. She's the one we've been looking for. Rose. This is Cardinal Caterina Sforza Baroness of Milano and Leader of the AX."

Caterina sighed. "Must you introduce me so formerly Abel?"

"Afraid i must Lady Caterina." He said as he smiled nervously at her.

The Baroness sighed and shook her head at the priest. She then looked at Rose and smiled. "It is an honor seeing you here Miss. Rose."

Rose hesitated and then nodded. "The....The honor is all mine Your Grace."

Caterina just smiled. She then turned and went back to the desk. "I heard that you've had a rough time for the past few months. Running into vampires and killing them. And now i hear that you were found by the Condre Monde and held against your will. Is this all true?"

"Yes. It is." Rose said as she was pushed by the priest to one of the seats in front of the desk. She sat down and Abel sat down next to her. "My memory of the day he found and took me is slowly coming back. I'm beginning to think that I'll soon remember what he did to me while i was under his control. But it's going to take time. Everything has been coming back very slowly."

Caterina nodded. "I can understand. Don't force the memories to come. You'll only give yourself a headache."

Rose nodded and agreed to just let the memories come back on their own.

"Now there is something that i must ask you." The cardinal said as she leaned forward. "Are you truly a crusnik?"

"Well.....I...." Rose was unsure if she should show Caterina her crusnik or not.

"She is indeed Lady Caterina." Abel said as he spoke up for Rose. "I've seen it myself. Twice in fact. And on one occasion, she saved my very life. Her crusnik form is truly remarkable."

Caterina nodded, seeming satisfied with Abel's confirmation. "Very well. Starting tomorrow you will be joining the services of the AX Forces. I'll have Abel show you to your own room."

Rose nodded, smiling happily at being able to work with the one she loved. Abel was also smiling, glad that she was going to be a part of the team.

"Now Rose. Is there any sort of code name you would like to be referred to as?" Caterina as she pulled out the paper work.

Rose thought for a moment and the name came to her. "When i was in Romania, a little girl i saved called me Dark Angel. I've always liked that name."

The cardinal nodded. "Very well then. From this day forward. You will be known as Dark Angel."

Rose smiled and looked at Abel.

Abel smiled back at her proudly. _My Dark Angel. Sounds better then 'little mouse' if i do say so myself.

* * *

_

Within a few months, Rose felt she was truly home at the Vatican. The first few nights in her own room felt lonely and she wasn't able to sleep. So after much convincing with the cardinal, she moved in with Abel and was able to sleep peacefully.

She got a whole new set of cloths and trashed the old ones. She even got special permission to wear the black uniforms instead of the white nun dress. This was mostly because she didn't like white and she didn't have the skin tone for it. So all she wore was the coat and the long cloak that could detach itself when she transformed and summoned her wings. She even received her own communicator ear piece clip in silver to match her hair. She also started braiding her hair and tying it with one of Abel's ribbons.

She met the rest of the staff except for the rogue priest, Father Hugue. Father Leon told her that the rogue likes to wonder around a lot and that they hardly ever see him sometimes. And she found the android, Father Tris, to be a little creepy, which Abel found amusing.

The one person she didn't like was Cardinal Francesco. He mistook the meaning of her code name and thought her to be with the Rosen Kreuz. Even after arguing with him about her name for about half and hour, he still didn't get it and she almost kicked his butt in crusnik mode. Abel had to force her out of the room before she had the chance to do so.

But besides not meeting Sword Dancer and arguing with Francesco, whom she called Francis behind his back, she loved behind in the Vatican.

She was now out in the garden with Abel, having tea that Sister Kate had ordered for them. She and the priest were having another thumb war and he was losing horribly.

The both of them had gotten even closer over the past few days. They didn't have sex yet because they both felt that they were not ready to go that far into the relationship. But they did kiss each other in the shower and make each other very happy.

"I'm gonna win Abel!" She said as she made her thumb avoid being pinned by his.

"No you're not!" He couldn't stop chuckling as their thumbs pushed against each other.

Rose then pulled a fast one, and in a blink of an eye, pinned his thumb down for about the 10th time that day. She cheered and laughed while Abel let his head hit the table.

"I win Abel." She said as she smiled proudly at him.

"Yes i know." He said as he sat up and moved closer. "Now here's your reward." He gave her a very passionate kiss, holding her face gently with his hand.

She smiled in the kiss and wrapped her arms around him. But doing so caused them both to slip off the chairs and fall onto the ground. They fell flat on the ground with Abel on top of Rose.

They froze and just stared at each other. Abel's glasses slipped off and landed on Rose. But because of the chain that held them, the glasses just sat on the bridge of Rose's nose, making her truely look like the clumsy priest.

As she stared up at him though the glasses, she started giggling. "My god Abel. You're blind!"

Abel soon got over the shock and smiled at her. He then got off her and helped her to sit up. "I'm not that blind to see you are a beautiful angel." He said as he ran a hand through her hair.

She blushed and giggled. "And you are a handsome angel."

He chuckled. "I'm no angel."

She shook her head and hugged him. "You are to me."

He was shocked at first and then smiled, wrapping his arms around her. "And i always will be too."

She smiled and continued to hug him.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything Father Abel and Sister Rose."

Both jumped and saw that Father Wordsworth was standing before them and smirking.

The lovers just smiled and got up off the ground. They dusted themselves off and Abel noticed that the professor had a file.

"What brings you here Will?" Rose was aloud to call him Will because he asked her too.

"This my dear lady. Lady Caterina had just received it and i was told to give it to the both of you." He said as he handed them the file.

Abel took it and opened it. He gasped as he read the name on the paper. "Rose.....It's about you."

"Me?" She went over to Abel's side and looked at the file.

On the first page was her full description and a picture of her face. She gasped as she saw the bold print title of _Crusnik 04_ on the top of the page. She then read the rest of the information on the page.

_Name: Rosetta Marianne Sahl_

_Age: currently 21. Could be older._

_Date of Birth: February 28 (year unknown)_

_Height: 6'0"_

_Weight: unknown._

_Hair: Silver_

_Eyes: Emerald green_

_Famliy:_

_-Mother: Lilith Augusta Sahl AKA Crusnik 00 -Deceased-_

_-Father:Unknown- believed to be dead as well._

_Abilities:_

_-Flight: Feathery black wings_

_-Electro-static explosive arrows: Bow forms out of her blood through left hand._

_-Sound vibration sensors: Located in claws._

_-Aura sensors: Is able to sense Methuselah within a certain distance. Nano-machines in blood stream will react to the lack of iron in a Methusian body._

_-Mood Activators: Crusnik power turns on by increased stress levels or intense anger. Will not activate when in a terrified state_

Rose sat down as she read through the file. It was all about her. Her whole history with in this one file and on several pieces of paper. Who she was, where she came from, why she was chosen. And more importantly...her full name.

"I'm Rosetta Marianne Sahl." She said as she just stared at her name on the first page.

"And you're mother.....It was Lilith." Abel was also in shock after seeing that the only woman whom he treated and loved like a mother was actually Rose's biological mother. "Even i didn't know that."

"I guess no one knew about who you truely were Miss Rose." William said as he sat with them at the table. "I suppose the Condra Monde doesn't know the truth either but he might know already. But the more interesting fact about you my dear will be on the last page."

Rose looked through all the papers and pulled out the last page.

_Fact: After suffering a serious blow by the loss of her mother, 00, 04 has requested to be put in hibernation and her memories erased. She wishes to awaken in a new world in the near future where there is no more killing and suffering. We placed her in a secret cavern under the watery city of Vanice, Italy. While in comatose, we erased only the memories that we believed she wished to forget. We choose the memory of the fact that she is 00's daughter and of the other three crusniks in the space project. We did, however, leave the image memories of the crusniks as children and the knowledge of her powers. We believe that 04 with be awakened in the future and we pray that she aids in the battle against vampires. _

_O2, her lover, begged her not to do this and to stay alive with him but she said she couldn't go through with it. She wanted this more then anything else. The moment we were finished adjusting her memories, we left 02 alone with her sleeping form. We could hear his cries all the way down the hallway as we left. He came to us a week later and asked for his memories to be adjusted as well so he could forget 04 and be rid of the pain and betrayal he was feeling. We agreed._

_She will be the Ultimate Weapon against Methuselah one day. And we wish for her to reaquint herself with 02, seeing as how they loved each other so much._

"The Ultimate Weapon? Me?" She dropped the page on the table and sat back in the chair. "I....I can't believe this."

"I can't believe it either." Abel said as he read over the page that she had dropped. "I always thought i was a weapon against the vampires but i guess i'm not."

"Abel." She was staring at the table as she spoke. "It says that....we erased our memories of each other. We were in love before."

Abel read over the small part about him and saddened. "I erased my memories so that i could end the feelings of pain and betrayal?" He said as he leaned back in his chair.

"You must have really been hurt by that huh Abel?" William said softly as he looked at his friend.

"I guess i was. I really don't remember how i felt about the situation." He said as he placed the page back on the table.

"Heartbroken." Rose muttered as she stared at the file. "You felt......really heartbroken."

"I did?" Abel looked over at her a little confused. "But how....?"

"It just can back to me, just now." She said as she looked up at him with sad eyes. "I remember. We had a huge argument about me being in hibernation. You tried to convince me so many times not to do it....but i was too stubborn to change my mind. By the time i was in the capsule and just starting to fall asleep, I knew it was too late. But you still came. You came to say goodbye before i totally passed out. You were crying softly the whole time, saying that you would always love me, your cries echoing in my mind before i went into a coma."

"But then i erased my memories of you so the pain could stop." Abel said as he sighed softly. "I really wish i could remember everything else. But i can't." He looked away from Rose, not sure of what to say.

Rose looked at the priest and couldn't help but feel that this was ll her fault. "Abel. I'm so sorry." She then got up and attempted to run away.

But Abel quickly got up and grabbed her hand before she got away. "It's not your fault Rose. That happened in the past. Hundreds of years ago maybe. I'm not entirely sure. But however long it was ago, it's still not your fault."

Rose just stood there silently. Tears were running down her cheeks as she listened to him.

William remained silent and just watched the two of them.

"Rose. We all have regrets." Abel said as he looked at the back of her head. "I have several. One of them not being able to fully destroy my brother when i had the chance the first time. You, on the other hand, were just doing what you thought was right. You were just trying to end the pain you received from losing Lilith. I guess i should have seen that during the time. But i was only trying to stop you from doing something stupid."

Rose slowly turned her head to look at him. She found he was smiling at her.

He slowly moved closer and pulled her into a tight hug. "Forget the past Rose." He said as he whispered into her ear. "We have each other now and we are in love with each other again. Just like how the people who wrote that report wanted to happen. We're together again and nothing is going to separate us again. I promise."

More tears ran down her face as she just stayed there in his arms. She then turned around and hugged him back, crying on his shoulder. He smiled softly and stroked her hair as she cried on him, comforting her as best as he could.

"Abel. I love you. And i promise I'll never do anything that stupid again." She said as she continued to cry on him.

Abel just chuckled and held onto her. He then looked over at William and nodded.

The professor nodded back, taking the hint that everything was going to be okay. He then got up and left the garden, leaving the priest and his angel alone.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Abel and Rose had forgiven each other for their past sins and were together more then ever.

The next day, they were both given a mission to head to a town south of Milano called Pavia. From what the reports said, there were numerous sightings of vampires in the town plus reports of humans being murdered.

They got on the train a few hours later and sat in each others' arms. Having more thumb wars and sharing a bottle of wine. They were about to fall asleep when the train reached it's destination and arrived in Pavia.

It was currently raining so they had to run to the church that had offered the shelter for their stay in town.

The nun there showed them to a very nice room and the two lovers started a fire in the fire place. Rose was shivering and not accustom to the cold weather of the north.

"I....h....hate the c..c..cold." She said as Abel placed a blanket around her as she shivered on the couch.

"You seemed fine in Rome dear." He said as he sat next to her.

"Yeah. That was Rome. This is Pavia." She said as she pointed at the windows.

He couldn't help but laughed. "You're even more strange then i am." He said as he kissed her on the cheek.

She smirked and leaned into his arms. "No wonder you love me so much."

Abel smiled again and wrapped his arm around her. "I've got to convince Caterina to let me go on a vacation and take you to Barcelona. It's so beautiful there in the fall. And there's so many places to see too. It's so nice and sunny there too."

Rose smiled as she looked up at him. "I'd like that."

"Or maybe the Empire of the True Race? It's incredibly fantastic there too! And I'm sure Seth will give us room in the palace. Or maybe my friend Astaroche will let us stay at her place. Or maybe even Ion Fortuna?"

Rose laughed. "Sounds like you have many friends in the empire."

"Oh i do. Very good friends. Though Asta tends to consider me a headache for some reason." He said as he smiled.

Rose just smiled at him and snuggled into his arms. "I'd really like that too." She then yawned and fell silent.

Abel looked down at her and found that she had fallen asleep on him. He smiled and then carefully picked her up. He carried her bridal style to the bed, moved the covers with his foot, and layed her on the bed. He then opened his suit case and grabbed her sapphire blue silk nightgown.

It took him a few minutes to dress a sleeping body and then got ready for bed himself. He blew out the candle and crawled into bed with her, pulled her close to his body so she could be warm.

He took in the sweet scent of honeysuckle and cloves in her hair and drifted off to sleep himself.

* * *

They woke up late the next morning and left the church to find a restaurant for breakfast. Sister Aliana, the nun at the church, said there was a cafe down the street. The two headed there and had a nice breakfast together.

They were then shown to a few crimes scenes by the police and shown the latest victim from two nights ago.

"Defiantly a vampire attack." Abel said as he looked closely at the bite mark on the girls' neck. "No way this can be imitated."

"Did you find anything else?" Rose asked the detective who was standing next to her.

"Yes we did." He said as he pulled out a note pad. "All the victims have all been girls. At least between the age of 18 and 25."

"That's the prime age for female blood." Abel said as he covered the dead girl's face with the cloth. "Female blood is sweeter and thinner at that range."

The detective nodded at the priest and then looked back at his notes. "Furthermore. The girls were stripped of their clothing and raped on site. We believe that the girls were then bitten while they were being raped."

"Well, blood flow increases during stress or any sort of excitement." Rose said as she went into thought. "The vampire must be using fear to achieve this so he can drain the blood faster."

Abel nodded and the detective agreed with their theories.

"We're hoping you two can capture this vampire and put a stop to him." The detective said as he ripped off the page of notes and handed it to Rose. "This place used to be a peaceful town. But then this vampire came in and now the people are in fear. They're too scared to venture outside passed sunset."

"We'll do everything we can to stop this vampire detective." Abel said as he stood before him.

The detective nodded and then shook their hands. They were then escorted out and went on their way.

Rose was silent as Abel rambled on with his theories of why the vampire was raping and killing young girls. She was thinking of a plan to capture this vampire. She finally thought of something as Abel got to his fourth theory.

"....or maybe he just likes raping woman for the thrill of it. I don't really know."

"Abel."

"Yes Rose." He stopped his rambling and looked at her. He then noticed the look in her eyes and he had a feeling she was planing something dangerous.

"I've got an idea." She said as she looked at him, smirking.

"No. You can't." He turned serious as he looked at her. "I can see what you are planing and the answer is no."

"But it'll work Abel!" They stopped moving and faced each other. "We'll lure the vampire out using me as bait and...."

"No Rose! I won't let you do it!" He grabbed her by her shoulders and looked right into her eyes. "I don't want to lose you."

Rose stared at him for a moment and then just smiled. She then moved closer to him and hugged him tightly. "It's going to be okay Abel."

Abel wrapped his arms around her and held her against him.

"Abel. It's going to be okay." She then moved closer to whisper in his ear. "Don't forget who we are. We are crusniks. Not even a blood thirsty vampire can kill us."

He wanted to tell her that he did die once by the hands of his brother but he didn't want to worry her. The fact remained that a vampire can't kill a crusnik is what reassured him that they were going to be safe. "Aright. But I'm going to watch over you in crusnik form, okay?"

She nodded and leaned up to kiss him. "Okay then. If it'll make you feel better, you can watch over me "

He smiled and kissed her back. "Thank you."

She smiled and soon pulled away from the hug. "Now come on. We need to go shopping."

"For what?" He asked as he followed her down the street.

"For a dress."

* * *

It was pass sundown and Rose was walking down the street alone.

She and Abel bought a short light green dress that showed off her neck very well and had lace work on the back. She had her hair in a bun with her bangs lose and had shades of green make up on her eye lids to bring out her eyes. They had also bought a bag large enough to hide her revolver since she couldn't carry it on her without the vampire suspecting something.

Abel said she looked absolutely beautiful and both agreed this would work.

She did keep on her communicator so Abel could talk to her and warn her if anything odd were to happen or if the target came out and started following her.

Abel was in crusnik form and was hovering in the air above her. So far he noticed that the detective was right. No one ventured out of their homes at night because of the threat of a vampire.

He flew over to the roof of a office building and landed on the corner, looking down on his angel. _"No sign of the vampire yet Rose. He probably won't come out until it's darker." _He said through the communicator. He saw Rose nod in the distance and then turn left at the end of the street.

He took off into the air and followed her.

It wasn't until a half hour later that Rose shivered. "Abel. You there?" She whispered as she stood in front of a dark alley.

"_Right above you Rose."_ Came his demonic voice in the ear piece.

"I can sense the vampire. He's near." Now that she knew it was the nano-machines in her body was reacting to the iron deficiency in vampires, she could now understand why she always had those odd sensations whenever one was close by.

"_I don't see anything."_ He said as he searched the area of where she was.

"I can feel it Abel. The moment i stepped in front of this alley, it went off." She said as she glanced down the alley.

"_I can't see anything Rose. It's too dark." _ He landed on the roof across the street from where she was and looked as hard as he could down the alley.

"I'm going in. Wish me luck." She said as she turned and slowly moved forward into the alley.

"_Be careful." _He said as he watched her disappear into the darkness.

"Hello?" Rose spoke carefully as she looked everywhere in the alley. "Anyone there?" She was playing the 'innocent girl' act in hopes that the vampire would come one. "I'm lost."

"Lost are you?"

She jumped and screamed a bit as she heard a voice behind her. She turned around and there he was.

The vampire was taller then her and with long brown hair that reached his stomach. He was wearing a torn up tuxedo that had blood all over the front. His bright red eyes stared at her with a lustful desire, smiling and showing off his fangs.

"_Rose! Get out of there! I can see him now! He was hiding in the shadows. LITURALLY!"_ Abel sounded panicked as he witnessed the vampire coming out of the shadows behind Rose.

Rose stared up at the vampire. "Yes. I'm new to this area and lost my way back to the hotel."

The vampire smirked. "You're not lost. I've found you." He said as he moved closer to her. "You're so beautiful. And now you're mine."

Rose backed up slowly and then remembered the revolver in her bag. "Think again vampire!" She pulled out her gun and pointed it at him.

He just chuckled. "What a naive little girl. You think a gun can stop me?"

"This is no ordinary gun." She said as she readied the gun. "This gun is loaded with silver bullets." She wasn't scared at all. Having faced vampires before and killing them. But now that she was employed for what she was, she couldn't kill this one unless they told her too.

"Silver bullets huh?" the vampire chuckled again. "You're a smart one aren't you little mouse?"

She gasped as she looked at him. "What did you call me?"

"I called you little mouse." He said as he smirked at her. "That is your nickname after all. My master gave it to you when he found you."

"_Rosen Kreuz!"_ Rose heard Abel say the Orders name in her ear as she stared at the vampire.

"My master has missed you little mouse. It's time you return home. My master told me to start killing here to lure you out of the Vatican. And i must say, it was a lot of fun killing those girls." He said as he pushed the gun away. "You've had your fun. Now it's time to come back."

Rose backed away until she hit the wall.

It was all coming back to her now in quick flashes.

She remembered Cain talking about using her against the Vatican and destroying his foolish brother. And after hearing she was going to be used, she broke out of the capsule she was laying in and attacked the vampires that surrounded her. She killed them all and escaped through a window in the ceiling.

She then started growling and looked up at him with glowing red eyes. _"I'm never going back! Your master wanted to use me. Control me."_ She raised her revolver and pointed it up at his head. _"I'm not going to let him control me at all! I'm not some pet he can keep on a leash. I'm my own person! No one controls me! NO ONE!" _

The vampire started growling himself. "I'm afraid you have no choice. My master told me to bring you back at all costs. And alive." He then ran toward her in three quick flash steps appearing right in front of her.

Abel quickly took off into the air and dove toward the alley, his blood scythe in hand.

Rose reacted quickly and shot him in the shoulder, which sent him flying back in pain.

"Damn bitch!" The vampire gripped his shoulder with one hand and reached into his coat pocket with the other.

"_ROSE!" _Abel landed by her side and glared at the vampire. _"Are you alright Rose?"_

"_I'm fine. Just pissed off." _She said as she dropped the gun into her bag and summoned her blood bow.

The vampire chuckled as he looked at the two crusniks. "Good thing my master also told me to capture his idiotic brother too." He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small remote. "His also told me to bring this to the party." He pushed the red button and laughed.

Immediately, the blood weapons disappeared and the crusniks were in immense pain. They reverted back to humans and fell to the ground.

"What.....what's happening?" Rose asked as she just layed on the floor. She didn't understand what was happening to her and why she was suddenly in so much pain.

"It's the disruptors my dear little mouse." The vampire said as he stood up, holding his bleeding shoulder. "They work against your nano-machines and make you wither in immense pain. I'm just hoping they make you pass out."

Rose tried to get up and pull out her gun, but the disruptors prevented her from moving. She looked over at Abel, hoping he was able to fight it.

He smiled weakly and slowly moved his hand toward her and held her hand. She smiled softly back at him before they both passed out together.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Rose groaned as she woke up with a painful headache and a feeling of nausea. Within a few minutes she realized that she was laying on something soft and on her back. She then noticed that her dress felt longed and made of silk.

"Wake up my little mouse." Said as voice that echoed in her ears and for a moment thought is was Abel.

She groaned again as she felt someone stroking the side of her face. She soon opened her eyes, her vision still blurry. "Abel?"

"Abel isn't here little mouse. But i am." Said the man again.

She blinked a couple time to focus her vision and stared at a smiling blonde man with blue eyes. It took a couple second for her to realize who it was. "Cain!" She gasped and backed away from him. She then noticed that she was laying on a bed and why her dress felt odd.

She was wearing a white silk dress with a emerald green ribbon around the waist. More green silk made a raffle like sleeves. There was also an emerald brooch right between her breasts. _What am i wearing?_ She then reached up to her left ear and sighed in silent relief that her ear communicator was still on. _Guess they couldn't take it off when they redressed me._

Cain just smiled and chuckled softly as he sat on the side of the bed. "Yes my love. It's me. I'm so glad you've returned. And that dress looks absolutely magnificent on you. That other one got dirty when you fell to the ground in that alley."

She glared at him. "You are not my love. My love is Abel!"

"But you're mine. Abel isn't anywhere around right now. And besides...." He took her hand and kissed it. "....I did find you first."

She growled at him and slapped him across the face with the hand he just kissed. "It doesn't matter who found me first. I love Abel not you! In fact i was even with him hundreds of years ago when you were nothing but dirt!" She then moved away from him more and turn her back to him.

Cain just smirked as he stood up. "Either way. You're still mine my little mouse. And Abel can't reach you."

"Where is he?" She said as she glanced over her shoulder to glare at him. "Where is Abel?"

"He's down below. I was just about to go and visit him after i saw that you had woken up." He said as he turned and went over to the door. "He should be waking up by now. Those nano-disruptors take a lot out of us crusniks. Good thing Isaak created them to stop you and my worthless brother."

"Abel is more of a man then you will ever be! You are nothing compared to him! At least wouldn't use me to kill innocent people!" She said as she glared at him

He just smirked. "It doesn't matter what you say my dear. Very soon I'll simulate his body and become whole again. And dear Abel will be no more." He chuckled as he opened the door. He then stopped and looked over at her. "You better get used to this room my dear. You're going to be here from now on. And then when i finish with my brother, i'll come back for you." He then left through the door and closed it.

She was about to get up and sneak out, but heard the lock in the door turn over, bolting the door shut and preventing her from leaving. She sank sadly into the bed as she noticed there was no lock on the inside of the room. She was truly trapped.

She sat there for a moment and soon realized what he was talking about. _He's....he's going to kill Abel._ She balled up on the bed and stared into space with shock. The shock soon turned to a deeper sadness and she started crying. _No. Abel. Please don't die. I need you.

* * *

_

As if on cue, Abel jerked and woke up. His head was swimming and he opened his eyes. First thing he noticed was that his glasses were gone and his hair was loose. He shook his head of the dizziness and looked around.

He was alone in a dark cell, his arms chained to the ceiling that he seemed to be hanging from. He also noticed he was in his old white with blue trim uniform. _Why am i in this old thing? I thought i burned this uniform after i joined the AX._

He soon noticed that he still head his communicator on his ear still. He sighed with relief and then heard a man chuckling.

He looked up and instantly got angry. "Cain."

Cain just laughed at him. "Hello dear brother. Did you sleep well?"

"Where is Rose? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HER?!" He tried to move forward but couldn't go far without the chains holding him back.

Cain just laughed again. "The little mouse is safe Abel. She just woke up a few minutes ago."

"Don't call her little mouse! That isn't her name!" Abel said as he glared at his brother.

"What's that matter Abel? Think Lilith will come and stop this?" Cain knew he struck a nerve in his brother from how much he was strangling to get at him. "She's been dead for hundreds of years now. I don't think she's coming back anytime soon."

"Shut up! Just shut up!" he then looked away from his brother.

Cain just smirked. "Lilith wouldn't like seeing you as you are now wouldn't she Abel? She'd probably send you to your room huh?"

"I said shut up Cain. It's your fault that you killed her." He continued to stare at the wall as he spoke.

Cain shrugged. He was about to walk away when he stopped at the side of his brother's cell. "Just so you know, I want you to hurry up and die. I wish to become whole again. And then Rose will be mine forever."

Abel glared at his brother as he disappeared beyond the view of his cell. He then leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling. _Rose. Please try and find a way for us to escape.

* * *

_

Rose had been crying for what seemed like forever. She was scared and upset about losing Abel and being trapped in a room where she didn't even know where she was.

"_Dark Angel?"_

She gasped and sat up at hearing the voice. She looked around the room and saw no one was there.

"_Dark Angel? Can you hear me? It's Sister Kate. Please respond Rose."_

She smiled in relief and realized her communicator still worked. She pushed the tiny button to activate the microphone. "Yes Sister Kate. I'm here."

"_Oh thank goodness. We've been trying to get in contact with you and Father Nightroad for hours now. You two just disappeared off our radar two days ago."_ Kate sounded relieved at hearing Rose's voice.

_I was out cold for two days?_ She thought as she held the pillow close to her. "Pavia was a trap. An agent from the Order lured me and Abel out of hiding and used nano-disruptors to turn off our crusnik powers and knock us out. I guess they drugged us over the last two days as they transported us to where ever we are now."

"_I see. Well so far we've only been able to establish a connection to your communicator but we can't locate you. There's something blocking it's signal."_

"Have....Have you been able to contact Abel?"

"_Unfortunately no. We tried him a moment ago but he didn't respond. He must still be out cold or his communicator was taken."_

"Well they didn't take off mine. Either they couldn't or they thought it was just jewelry." She layed back on the pillows and stared up at the ceiling.

"_Well your communicator is a special one. It can only be taken off by you alone. It won't even fall off when you transform. We had to experiment with Nightroad for a while before Father Wordsworth got it right."_

She nodded. "I just hope he's okay."

"_Don't worry Rose. Father Nightroad has been through much worse and always comes out with a goofy smile on his face."_ The sister said as she giggled a bit.

She couldn't help but smiled at that. She then got sad again as she remembered what Cain said before he left. "Sister Kate. I don't think he's going to come out of this one with a goofy smile on his face."

"_Oh? And why is that?"_

She took a deep breath and sighed. "We're with Cain right now. I'm locked up in this elegant bedroom while Abel is locked up in a dungeon of some sort. He....He said he was going to kill him and simulate his body to become whole again."

"_You're with the Condra Monde?!"_ Kate panicked at hearing this news. _"Rose, you and Nightroad have to get out of there!"_

"I know i do. But the door is locked and something is wrong with my powers. I can't even sense vampires around right now. Either my powers haven't woken up yet or there's something knocking them out." She curled up with the white silk pillow and held it close to her.

"_That's not good then. It could be the same thing that's blocking your location signal."_

"Maybe. I just don't know."

Kate was silent for a while and then spoke up. _"Do you know where you are right now?"_

"No i don't. I just woke up in this room with that monster smiling at me." She said as she stared at the hand that he had kissed. "I need to wash my hand. That leech kissed it."

"_Are there any windows in the room?"_

Rose didn't really looked around the room for a window. She then sat up and looked around.

The room was a soft pink color with white carpet. There was a vanity to her left and a couch to her right. To the left of the couch was door that lead to what looked like a restroom. She then looked over at the bedroom doors and saw another pair of doors that lead to a closet. She then smiled as she noticed a shade covered window. "I see one. It's across the room from me." She told Sister Kate and she got off the bed and walked over to the window.

"_What do you see?"_

She pulled up the shade and looked out the window. She gasped at what she saw. "You're not going to believe this. But we're in the air and right over the Vatican!"

"_WHAT?! But we can't even see you?!"_

"We're not even casting a shadow on the ground. And it's full day light too from what i can see." She said as she looked around the area.

"_The ship you're on must have a cloaking device on it or something. One capable of not casting a shadow on the ground." _

"Might be."

"_Can you see anything else?"_

"Not really."

"_Nothing but a dark cell."_ Came a man's voice.

Rose dropped the shade and looked in the direction of her ear. "Who are you?"

"_The name is Father Nightroad."_

Kate:_"Nightroad?! You're okay!"_

Abel: _"Sister Kate?Is that you?"_

"Abel!" She smiled hearing his voice in her ear.

Abel: _"Who was that?"_

"It's Rose you goofball." She smiled and giggled that he didn't realize it was her.

Abel: _"Rose! You're alright!"_

She smiled greatly.

Kate: _"Where are you Nightroad?"_

Abel: _"I'm chained up in a cell of some sort. Must have turned my communicator on while i was trying to take care of an itch on my ear. Turned on right when Sister Kate asked what else could be seen."_

Kate: _"Are you alright though?"_

Abel: _"Alright as i can be with being chained up and all. And getting riled up by my stupid brother."_

"Did he tell you why he captured you?" Rose asked as she walked back over to the bed and sat down.

Abel: _"I already knew that he wants my body to become whole again. Don't know how he's going to do that with me being chained up. He just came, talked, and then left me here."_

Rose sighed as she stared at the floor. "How are we ever going to get out of here? I'm locked up. Abel, you're chained up. And Kate, you can't even locate us."

Abel: _"Seems like God has truely abandon us today."_

Kate: _"Maybe i can get Father Havel to investigate this. The fact that we can't locate the air ship or put a fix on your locators is making me think they stole the same tech that the father has. Because he can become invisible and un-tractable just like you two are now."_

"Father Havel can become invisible?"

Abel: _"Indeed he can. But it would take to long to explain right now. After we get out of this Rose, i'll tell you all about him."_

She smiled softly. "And then we go to Barcelona?"

Abel: She heard him chuckling. _"Yes. And then Barcelona."_

Kate laughed softly at hearing the two talk about going someplace. _"Well anyway. Rose, try and find a way to break out of the room and find Nightroad. I'll contact Havel and see if the invisible camouflage has any weaknesses while on an air ship. If not you'll have to find it's generator and shut it down."_

Rose nodded. "I'll do what i can Sister Kate."

"_Very good. Sister Kate out." _

The communication turned off and Rose sat there thinking. "What am i going to do?"

"_I'm still here Rose. My communicator didn't turn off." _

She smiled softly and then stood up. "Thank you Abel. I'm going to need all the help i can get right now."

"_I'll do everything i can my angel."_

She smiled again. "I have to say one thing though. I do like being your angel over being called Cain's little mouse. Makes me sick every time i hear it."

"_Now you know how i feel when Cain and i are within five feet of each other."_

She laughed softly and looked around the room, hopeing to find a weapon to use to get out the pink room.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Father Havel was outside in the courtyard looking up at the sky. He had just been told that there was an air ship above the Vatican that was invisible.

_Sister Kate was right. The air ship is indeed casting no shadows and is completely invisable._ He thought as he continued searching the sky.

William and Leon were behind him aiding him by looking through the notes the professor had on the camouflage system. Father Tris was also there, scanning the skies in inferred mode.

"This technology is old. We tried to use it once for ourselves but the project was to cost effective so it was trashed." William said as he looked through the papers in the file.

"Would have been nice if we could go invisible." Leon said as he looked over the specs for the machines that were built into Havel's body. He was sitting on the steps as he read over the files.

"You wouldn't like it Leon. The procedure is extremely painful." Havel said as he overheard the conversation.

"I can see that from the specs here." He said as he pointed at the papers.

"I'm going to try something." Havel said as moved forward into the sunlight.

"And what would that be Father Havel?" William looked up and then gasped. "He's gone!"

Leon smirked. "Show off."

"I am not showing off." Came Havel's voice from somewhere in front of the three priests. "I was trying something and it worked. I can see the ship while invisible."

"You can see it?!" William dropped the file and moved toward the invisible father's voice. "What does it look like?"

"Remember that air ship the Rosen Kreuz brought and used over Rome a year ago?"

"Oh lord." Leon got up and stood next to William. "Don't tell me they made another one."

"They did. And it looks deadlier then the last one." Havel said as he became visible again.

"Oh my lord." Leon sighed and shook his head. "That thing was a pain in the butt to destroy last year. It was a miracle that William realize how to destroy it with the Aegis shield on it. How are we going to destroy this one that's invisible?"

"I don't know Leon." Havel said as he sighed. "I suppose all we can do now is wait and see if Dark Angel and Crusnik can disable the invisibility generator. So until the we wait."

The two fathers nodded while the android just stood there like a statue.

* * *

Rose was searching the closet for a suitable weapon to use and escape with. All she found was a lot of dresses and shoes.

"You know Abel. For an enemy of the world, he sure does have good taste in women's clothing." She said as she looked at an incredibly gorgeous white dress that seemed to shimmer a bit. She then smirked as she imagined something. "I wonder if he goes walking around in women's clothing when no one is looking."

That made Abel laugh. _"I wouldn't put it passed him. Course i haven't been around my brother for hundreds of years so who know's why he has those dresses."_

"Maybe he got bored and started collecting things. Like dresses. Some of these look really old too." She said as she looked at an old Victorian style dress. "And beautiful too. There's this really nice white one that would be perfect for a wedding.....or...er.....um...." She couldn't believe that she had just blurted that out.

Abel laughed more at hearing her stutter. _"Rose. It's okay. If we get out of this and we can still stand each other, I would be honored to have you as my wife."_

She smiled softly as she held the white dress, dreaming of wearing it one day. "Really?"

"_I promise. And when we do get out of this, i'll get you a ring to match you beautiful green eyes."_

"I'd like that." She said as she took the dress off the hanger and wrapped it around her neck like a scarf. _If we do get married one day, i might as well keep this dress._

Once she found no suitable weapon in the closet, left the small room and decided on searching in the bathroom. She then jumped as she heard the lock in the door roll over and unlock itself. She quickly took off the white dress and tossed it behind the bed, not wanting Cain to think of anything suspicious was going on.

The door then opened and in walked a familiar vampire.

She gasped as she realized who it was. "It's you! The murderer from Pavia!"

"Shhhh." He closed the door behind him and took out some rope. For a moment, she thought he was going choke her with it but was surprised when he turned around and used it to tie the door shut. "I'm not hear to hurt you."

"Then why did you kidnap me and Abel?" She said as she spoke seriously and glared at him.

"_Rose? Who's there? What's going on?"_

"It's the murderer from Pavia Abel. He's here with him in the room." She whispered as the man looked around the room. "What do you want? Did you want to finish me off now?" She asked as she watch him place his ear on the door.

"No I'm not. I'm here to help you." He said once he was satisfied that there was no one outside the doors. "I don't work for the Condra Monde. I work for the Empress of the True Race. She deployed me as a spy into the Rosen Kreuz Order to find out what the enemy was planing. She also wanted me to find out why the Condra Monde is so interested in you."

"I already know why." She said as she leaned against the wall. "I have more power then he does and because of that he wants to use me to destroy the Vatican."

"He wants more then that Lady Rose." He said as he went over to the window and pulled down the shade. "He wants to use you to destroy the Empire as well. He was going to have a man called the Puppet Master use his talents to control you and have you destroy both locations. Making you kill the empress and Lady Caterina as well. Thus sparking a war between the two races."

Rose held herself as she slid down the wall. "He was going to have me kill my lover's sister and best friend plus the Duchess of Milano?"

"_He was going to make you kill Seth?"_ Abel sounded in as much shock as she was in.

"Yes he was. But I'm going to help you and the priest escape before he decides to go forth with the plan. Which is going to be tonight." He said as he went over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Lady Rose. We have to escape now. Before it's too late."

"Too late for what?" Rose asked as she looked up at him.

"He plans to have his brother be drowned within half and hour. The cell he's in is going to be seal soon and filled up with water until he drowns." He said as he helped her up.

"_GET ME OUT OF HERE!"_ Abel had heard he was going to be drowned and started to panic.

Rose immediately got up off the floor, with the vampire's help. "Let's go then."

"Alright. But first." He reached forward and ripped off the emerald brooch. "Let's get rid of this first.

Rose gasped as she felt a wave of power wash over her. She could finally sense the vampires that were everywhere around her. She could also feel her crusnik powers again. She couldn't explain it but she could definitely feel them again. "What was that thing?"

"It's an inhibitor. It kept your powers and nano-machines offline while it was on you." He said as he tossed it across the room.

She nodded. "Thank you."

"Not a problem." He then pulled out a familiar green hand bag. "And you might need this."

She smiled as she opened the bag and saw her revolver. She also noticed a holster and another revolver. "Is that....?"

"Yes. That's the priest's gun. They tossed your cloths after they redressed you. But i managed to save some important things. Like his gun, ID badge, hair ribbon and his glasses."

She looked through her bag and smiled seeing the mentioned items in the bag. "Thank you so much."

The vampire nodded. "You're very welcomed Lady Rose." He then turned and untied the rope that had kept the doors closed. "Oh. And the name is Patrick. Patrick Salduski."

She nodded and then went over to the bed and picked up the dress she had tossed. She carefully rolled it up and placed it in her bag. She then took out Abel's holster and revolver, put it on, and took out her own revolver. She then nodded to Patrick and left the room and down the hallway.

"I'm coming Abel." She whispered as she ran down the hallway.

They stopped at a corner and Patrick looked around the edge. "We should be able to get to him in about 15 minutes. Depending on weather we come into any distractions on the way down." He then motioned her to follow and they went down the hallway he had just looked down. "But i highly doubt that."

"Why is that Patrick?" Rose asked as she kept her gun down at her side as they ran.

"It's day. The vampires on this air ship are still used to being awake at night. They aren't like me and the rest of the Empire where we walk around during the day because of the UV shield protecting the whole empire." He said as they stopped at what she believe was an elevator.

He pushed the down button and they waited for the doors to open. Within a few minutes, the double doors opened and the two jumped inside. Patrick pushed the button that would take them to the lower levels of the air ship.

Rose leaned against the wall as she felt the elevator go down. She then looked over at Patrick with curiosity. "Patrick?"

"Yes Lady Rose?" He responded as he glanced over at her.

"About Pavia, did you really kill those girls?" She asked as innocently as she could and hoped that she didn't offend him.

To her surprize he, smirked. "No i didn't. Those girls that everyone believes i killed were actually my nieces, cousins, and my own daughter. I called them all as i plotted my plan to lure you and the priest out of hiding. My daughter was the last 'victim' and the one you overlooked at the correners. I did have to bite them though to make it look convincing. My cousin Jennifer, said that she liked it."

"I see. So do you...."

"No. I don't drink human blood. In fact i don't even like fresh human blood anymore." He explained as he leaned against the wall. "It comes to a point in a vampire's life where you just don't like human blood anymore. I was about 200 years old before i was finally sick of it. Switched to bovine blood and that seemed to satisfy my hunger."

"200 years old?" She gasped as she looked at him.

"Yes. But i'm currenly 347. I had my birthday a few days before the empress asked me to spy on the Rosen Kreuz. In fact it is rumored that the empress herself is well over 500 years old." He said as he smiled at her.

"Wow." _Is Seth really that old? I guess she would be if she's was with Abel and Cain since they were kids and with me mother before she was...._ She suddenly grew sad at the thought of her mother.

Patrick noticed this as he looked at her. "Is something wrong?"

"I just remembered that Cain killed my mother 500 years ago. My mother was also the one that raised Cain and Abel when they were kids." She said as she took out her necklace and rubbed her thumb on the silver cross. "I miss her yet i don't even remember her. I recently found out that i was put into a comatose hibernation and had certain memories erased. Broke Abel's heart back then so he had his memories erased of me."

"You and Abel were together 500 years ago?" Patrick asked as he pulled out a gun and checked it.

"Yes. We were. And according to the report a friend of ours found on me, Abel and I were deeply in love with each other. We were the perfect couple. But then i had to go and ruin it." She said as she placed her hand on Abel's revolver.

Patrick just chuckled. "Lady Rose. You shouldn't let the past bother you. What's done is done. And it seems history has repeated itself from you and Abel. You two found each other again and fell in love again."

"_Told you." _Came Abel's voice.

She smiled softly at Abel and Patrick's words. She then looked up and smiled at him. "Thank you."

Patrick nodded and then readied his gun as the elevator started to slow down.

Rose reached into her bag and pulled out a handful of bullets. She unlatched the chamber, found it still loaded and closed it again. She put the spare bullets back, leaving above five in her hand so that she wouldn't have to search her bag for them again.

The doors then opened and both held their guns out in front of them defensively. They walked slowly out of the elevator and down the hallway.

"I have to warn you though." Patrick whispered as they kept a sharp eye out. "There are some vampires around here that are awake during the day to be on guard and pilot the ship. So there might be some vampires down here."

"I understand." She said as she pointed her gun into an empty room.

"This way. There's a surveillance room down here. If we find it, we can find your priest." He said as he turn right down another hallway.

"Is the control for the cloaking system in there too?" she asked as she followed him. "My boss wants me to shut it down so our friends can see us and find a way to destroy this ship once me and Abel are off."

"It should be in there. If not it's probably in the control room. But we need to find the priest first. There are a lot of vampires up there as well as the Condra Monde himself." He said as he peeked into an open door.

"That explains why he hasn't checked on me for the past few hours now. He has to make sure the ship is where it is." She said as she waited for his signal.

Patrick soon nodded and pushed open the door. "Here it is."

They entered a room with surveillance screens on one side of the room. Patrick went over to the controls and entered what Rose guessed was his password on the keyboard.

Immediately, the fifteen screens lit up with the camera feed down in the cell block.

"Now where did they put the priest." He mumbled to himself as he looked over at the screens. "Each of these cells has a camera on it and are numbered. There are ten regular cells, they don't do anything. The last five are special torture cells. One has lycans, one will bury you in sand, one'll shot silver tipped arrows at you if your a vampire, and one has the ceiling lower on you until you are squished like a pancake." He explained as he looked over the last five screens. "And of course there's the one you priest is in."

"There!" She pointed to the fifteenth camera. She smiled seeing Abel was still alive. "I can see you Abel."

"_You can? How?"_ He looked everywhere in the cell for a camera but didn't see one.

"The camera is right in front of you." She was wondering why he was dressed so oddly in the white and blue trimmed uniform but guess that's what the vampires dressed him in when they were brought aboard.

Abel looked up and search everywhere outside his cell. He then smiled as he noticed something shining on the ceiling. He waved as he smiled at the camera.

Rose smiled and foolishly waved back.

"_Rose. You have to get down here quickly. The cell is starting to fill up with water. It's past my feet right now."_ He kicked and a splash of water appeared on the screen.

"They started it early!" She said as she stared at the screen

"Come on then. We have to get down there now. We only have 15 minutes until the cell is flooded completely."

Rose nodded and gripped her gun. "Let's go then."

The vampire nodded and shut off the screens. He picked up his gun and they both left the room.

"It's this way." He said and they went down the left hallway.

It took them only a few minutes to get to the prison cells and open the door. But when the got there. They found that a handful of vampires were there.

"What are you doing down here with the little mouse Patrick?" Asked one vampire that was closest to them.

"None of your business." He responded. "What are you doing down here?"

The vampire smirked. "We're going to watch a crusnik drown. Should be entertaining. The master is having him be executed now instead of at sundown." He said as he chuckled.

Rose growled and pointed the gun at the vampire right between the eyes. "How can it be entertaining when you're dead?"

The vampire gave her a confused look and then glared. "So that's why you brought her here you bast....AHHH!" He was cut short as he was shoot in the head with her silver bullet.

The other vampires reacted and ran toward the door.

Patrick let off a few shots as he defended himself. "GO! Find the priest and get him out of that cell." He yelled as he watched her fight.

"But how do i get there?" She asked as she shot a female vampire in the heart.

"Go straight down the corridor here and turn right." He then tossed an access card to her that she caught. "That card will open the door to the torture cells. NOW GO! I'll hold them of."

She nodded, shot another vampire, and then started running. "Thank you Patrick!"

She soon reached the end of the hallway and turned right. Once she got to the end of the hallway, she found a door that need an access card to open it. She slid the card into the scanner and a green light turned on and the door slid open. She gasped at what she saw.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

At the end of the corridor she saw a blue glow and reflective water patterns dancing on the wall.

"ABEL!" She ran down the hallway and came to a quarter full cell, the water was up to his knees and he was still chained to the ceiling.

"_It was starting to fill up right when you left the bed room."_ He said through the communicator. _"Would you mind getting me out of here before i drown? The water is raising very fast in here and I'm starting to panic a little."_

"Okay. I'll see what i can do." _Oh lord, what am i going to do?_ She looked around the hallway and noticed a control panal on the far end.

She went over to it and started typing, trying to find something that would stop the water flow. After several minutes of searching, she became frustrated. "I have no idea want i'm searching for!" She whined as she fell to her knees.

"_Switch the computer to voice mode."_ Came Abel's voice.

Rose got up and went over to the cell. The water level was now up to Abel's waist. _It is filling up fast. _"What do you mean?"

"_Tell the computer to switch to voice mode and access the water valve control."_ He explained. He sounded a little more worried then earlier. _"Then tell the computer to turn off the water valve control and shut it off. It's easier then trying to look it up blindly."_

Rose nodded and went back over to the computer.

"Uhhh.....computer. Switch to voice mode." Rose said as she stood before the computer, feeling foolish.

"Confirmed." Rose smiled hearing the computer actually heard her. "Voice mode activated."

"Access Water Valve Control and shut down." She said more confidently.

"Access Denied. Pass code Required."

_Pass code?_ She stared at the screen confused and the ran back to Abel. "It say it needs a pass code."

"_Use yours Rose. And hurry!"_ He really sounded in fear now. The water was now to his stomach.

"But what is it? I don't remember!" She was starting to get frustrated as she looked at him.

"_Both mine, Cain's and Seth's pass code ID number all start with UNASF94-8-RMOC-666. Then it's our crusnik number and finally our initials. Mines ak."_

She stood there for a minute, repeating the code in her head and hoped that a memory would awaken.

The water level got higher and higher as she tried to remember. It was almost over his chest when something in Rose's mind finally snapped.

"So if your initials are ak then mine should be...I GOT IT!" She gasped and then ran back over to the computer. _I remember now. The last four digits are going to be 04-rs! Because my inilsals should be Rosetta Sahl!_

"_Hurry Rose!"_

She pushed a random key on the keyboard to wake it up again. "Computer! Shut down water valve contorl. Passcode UNASF94-8-RMOC-666-04-rs!" She prayed to god that it worked.

The water was right under Abel's chin when the computer responded. "Access Granted. Water Valve Control shutting down."

Right when Abel had to lift his head to still be able to breath, the water stopped raising. He sighed nervously and looked at the glass wall as best as he could so see a proud Rose.

"I did it! I remembered!" She said as she smiled proudly at him.

"_That's.....That's very nice Rose....but would you mind GETTING ME OUT OF HERE!" _He used the chains that held his arms to pull himself out of the water so he wouldn't have to crane his neck so much.

Rose thought for a moment, trying to think of a way to get Abel out of the water and the cell. She looked around and noticed several large drains that ran down the hallway. _They must have put those there for a reason._ She thought as she looked at them.

She then gasped as she got an idea and pulled out Abel's revolver from it's holster.

"_What are you doing with my gun?"_ he asked as he noticed her staring at the glass.

She backed against the wall and aimed to the far right of the priest. "Getting you out." She then pulled the trigger and the bullet went right through the glass, cracking it a bit.

Abel realized what she was doing when he saw the glass cracking. _"I see. You're going to break the glass and let the water run out."_

"Uh huh." She shook her hand from the sudden shock wave that came from firing Abel's gun. "There's drains up and down this hallway. They must have put them there so that when the opened this cell, the water would have somewhere to go."

"_That's what i love about you. You're so brilliant!"_

She smiled. "I try."

"_Keep firing then. You have four shots left in my gun now. Hopefully the glass will shatter before you run out."_

She nodded and watched him dunk his head under the water. _Probably so i can shoot everywhere to break the glass. _

She let off another shot to the left of Abel this time and even more cracks appeared. Water was leaking out the bullet holes and cracks. The cracks got bigger from the pressure the water was putting on the glass.

_One more outta do it! _She aimed carefully right at Abel and fired a third round.

The bullet broke through the glass and shattered the glass completely.

She was pushed against the wall as the water rushed out of the cell, down the hallway, and into the drains. She got completely soaked from where she stood as the water washed over her as it made it's escape. She heard Abel gasping for breath once the water stopped rushing out of the cell.

"ABEL!" She carefully walked over the broken glass and ran over to him. She literally pounced on him and hugged him tightly. "I'm so glad you're okay." She said as she started crying on his chest.

"It's okay Rose." All he could do was looked at her. "It's okay. I'm alright. A little wet but i'm alright."

Rose nodded and she just continued to cry on him.

After several minutes, she soon calmed down and looked up at him. "I'd....I'd better go and find the keys to free you."

"You should. My arms are starting to fall asleep again." He said as he smiled at her.

She smiled back and went looking for the keys. She found them outside the cell on a hook. She grabbed them and ran back to Abel. "I found them."

"Good. Now get me out of here before something else happens." He said as he watched her jump and pull down his right arm to unlock the cuff around his wrist. The moment his arm was free, he wrapped it around her, pulling her into a hug. "I've missed this."

She smiled at him as she reached up and unlocked the other cuff that held him chained to the ceiling.

With both arms free, he held her in a tight hug, taking in the scent of her honeysuckle and clove scented hair.

Rose dropped the keys and hugged him back, glad to be back in his embrace.

"I promise Rose. After all this is over, we are so going to Barcelona. No matter what Caterina says, we're going." He said softly into her ear as he kissed her cheek.

"Let's go then." She said as she pulled away and looked up at him, smiling. "The faster we get out of here, the sooner we can go to Barcelona."

"I hope i'm not interrupting anything?"

Rose gasped and turned around, relaxing as she saw who it was. "Patrick! You're alive!"

The vampire was scratched up some and there was blood spattered over his face, but he stood there smiling proudly. "I fought with most of them when i started spying on them. I knew how to bring them down."

Rose nodded and looked up at Abel. "He's the one who saved me Abel. He works for the Empress."

Abel smiled and nodded. _Good old Seth. Always watching out for me._ "I thank you for saving my love."

"Don't thank me just yet." Patrick said as he glanced back down the hallway. "The commotion we caused will no doubt bring more trouble." He then took out a small sack and tossed it to Abel, who caught it in mid-air. "We may more then likely have to fight our way out now."

Abel nodded and looked at Rose. She automatically knew what he wanted and took off the holster, handing it to him. He took the holster and put it on while Rose walked out the cell. She found her soaked bag and Abel's gun and picked them up. Abel came up behind her and took his gun back, placing it back in the holster. He then looked at the small sack that was tossed to him. "What's in here?"

"More bullets for your gun." Patrick said as he looked at the priest. "I got into contact with Lady Caterina and asked her what bullets your gun takes."

"I see." He opened the sack and saw the silver tipped bullets.

"Patrick. We need to shut down the invisibility generator." Rose said as she reloaded her gun.

"We can do that from here." Patrick went over the to computer and started typing.

Rose and Abel looked over his shoulder as the vampire hacked into the mainframe and to the power grid. He was about to click the 'shut down' option when Rose stopped him.

"What? Why did you stop me?" Patrick asked as he looked at her.

"See that?" She pointed to the option below the 'shut down' option that read 'Self Destruct'. "Wouldn't that be better? That way when they realize the cloaking device is off, they can't turn it back on."

"But if we destroy it..." Abel said as he soon realized what she was thinking. "...If we destroy it, it might make the ship explode. And....." He gasped and smiled at the sudden thought that had reached him. "And we could destroy Cain and the Rosen Kreuz Order!"

Patrick thought about it for a moment and then nodded. "Sounds like a plan. The Condra Monde and the Order has caused enough trouble for both humans and vampires. Not to mention giving us vampires a bad name and reputation. But i'm putting a timer on the self destruct so that we have time to escape the ship." He said as he clicked on the 'self destruct' option and entered the time for the generator to explode in 30 minutes. "There. That should do it. I even made it so the alarms won't go off until 5 minutes before the explosion."

"Good work Patrick." Abel said as smiled at the vampire. "Now lets get out of here."

Patrick nodded and shut down the computer. All three then ran for the door.

But before they reached it, Rose froze a few feet away.

"What is it Rose?" Abel asked as he looked back at her.

"Vampires. Behind the door." She said as she stared at the door. "A lot of them. They're waiting for us to come out and ambush us."

"I knew this was going to happen." Patrick said as he pulled out his gun.

"It was bound to happen Patrick." Abel said as he took out his revolver.

Rose nodded and took her gun out of her bag. She handed Abel the access card, since he was the one next to the scanner.

"Everyone ready?" Abel asked as his hand hovered over the scanner with the card.

Patrick and Rose nodded and pointed their guns at the door.

Abel pointed his at the door and slid the card in the scanner.

The vampires behind grined at the three of them but stared at Rose.

"Hello little mouse." Said a vampire that smiled greedily.

"Good bye vampire." Rose pulled the trigger and the bullet went right between the vampires eyes.

* * *

"My lord. We have a disturbance in the cell block." Said Isaak as he looked at his monitors.

Cain was behind him twirling a glass of blood wine in his fingers. "What kind of disturbance Magus?"

"Your brother escaped his cell by the help of the little mouse and a traitorous vampire it seems." He said coolly as he smirked at the three fighting their way out of the cell block.

"My little mouse escaped her room did she?" He set down his glass and stood, grabbing his cloak and tying it on. He then came up behind Isaak and watched the fight. "My, my. She truely is quite the little fighter now is she?"

"Indeed she is." Isaak said as he glanced at his master. "Should i go and retrieve her my lord?"

"No need for that Magus. I will go and fetch her myself." He said as he turned and walked toward the door. "They will be heading to the roof to make their escape by flight while in crusnik form. That is when i will take her back."

Isaak nodded. "Very well my lord."

Cain smirked and the door opened and he walked through it. _I warned you Abel. What's mine is mine. You can't have it._


End file.
